My presentation shares my journey into the world of sports through my work with USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body for track and field in the United States. I had the opportunity to work in the International Teams Department, a unique branch of USATF that focuses on global competitions such as the World Championships, NACAC Championships, the Olympics and many more. This role gave me a behind-the-scenes look at how Team USA, the best track and field team in the world, is prepared for international success.

 My work centered on athlete services and logistics. I assisted with selecting and registering athletes for competition, ensuring their eligibility, preparing and shipping national team kits, and supporting them on-site at events. From managing compliance details to troubleshooting logistics, I quickly learned that success in sports extends far beyond what happens on the track.

 Through this experience, I not only gained valuable skills in operations and logistics but also discovered the many opportunities that exist in the business of sports, ranging from athlete management to international event operations. In my presentation, I highlight how I got involved, what my role looked like day to day, and the career pathways available in this exciting field.

 Analytical chemistry laboratories frequently use lead salts to teach solubility and gravimetric analysis, but the toxicity and disposal challenges of lead raise serious health and environmental concerns. This study addresses this issue by evaluating a safer and more sustainable replacement for lead chloride in a common ion and precipitation experiment.

 Building on an established procedure, the experiment was redesigned using calcium sulfate and assessed its ability to illustrate equilibrium concepts, solubility product determination, and gravimetric techniques. Calcium sulfate proved to be a non-toxic, cost-effective substitute that maintains the core educational goals of the original experiment. Student results showed that the substitution provides reproducible and quantifiable data while eliminating hazardous waste. The redesigned experiment supports green chemistry education by enhancing laboratory safety, reducing disposal costs, and modeling sustainable practices that can be readily adopted in undergraduate curriculum.

 Walking into a jail was certainly not on my junior year at Beloit to-do list, but two weeks into the semester that iss where I ended up. Luckily for me, my role there is to support defendants who do not have the privilege to come and go as they please. Through my PRAX 325 Psychology course, I gained the opportunity to intern with the Federal Defender Program at their Rockford office with highly respected federal defenders, mitigation specialists, and assistants.

 Every Tuesday, since September 2025, I converse with defendants in jail, attend court hearings, analyze client files, write mitigation reports based on clients’ history, and debrief with my assigned lawyer after each jail or court visit. The dual relationship between work and learning is strong here, as each day is hands-on and involved. I am privileged enough to meet a wide variety of workers involved with the legal justice system in Rockford as well as the citizens of Rockford who are trying their best to improve from pasts, which for some may result in a lifetime of incarceration. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity which exists at the intersection of my passion for using psychology to help others, and its specification in identifying routes of rehabilitation and psychological support for arrested individuals.

 In summer 2025, I had the opportunity to intern with Realta Fusion in Madison, Wisconsin, marking my first hands-on experience in the fusion energy industry. I joined the team working on the Wisconsin High-field Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM) experiment, a next-generation magnetic mirror device designed to study plasma confinement for future fusion reactors. My main project focused on upgrading WHAM’s flux loop diagnostics so they could withstand high-temperature operation for the upcoming titanium gettering.

 I had previously worked in plasma physics, and this background motivated me to explore the field of fusion more directly. I began looking for summer research opportunities in fusion, which led me to Realta Fusion. The internship allowed me to apply existing skills while also developing new ones, including plasma diagnostics, design for extreme environments, and collaborative problem-solving. Beyond the technical growth, I gained valuable insight into the culture and pace of private fusion research, which confirmed my interest in pursuing graduate studies in this field.

 This experience helped me grow personally, academically, and professionally by showing me how my passion for physics can contribute to solving global energy challenges. It continues to guide my next steps as I prepare for graduate school and a career dedicated to advancing fusion energy.

 This summer I interned with Ernst & Young (EY) in the Strategy and Transactions team, where I worked on projects that help companies make important financial and strategic decisions. My responsibilities included analyzing financial statements, conducting due diligence, building databooks, and supporting financial modeling. The work was fast paced and required me to stay organized, adapt quickly, and manage my time effectively. Working in a hybrid environment added an extra challenge, as I had to structure remote days with focus and balance meetings and deliverables during in-office and on-call days.

 One of the most valuable parts of the experience was building meaningful relationships with managers and partners; through conversations and mentorship, I gained insight into leadership, professional growth, and navigating complex work environments. This internship also helped me clarify my long-term goals by showing how financial expertise and strategic thinking combine to create real impact for clients. It strengthened my interest in pursuing a career in finance, accounting, or consulting and helped me develop practical skills in problem solving, adaptability, and time management that I will carry into my future work.

 When Matt Laszlo first reached out to me with a marketing internship opportunity with a car wash business, I was hesitant to apply since that type of business did not sound particularly “appealing.” I was quickly proven wrong. I began my journey in a general marketing role with Summit Wash Holdings, building social media content, analyzing customer data, and working alongside my co-intern on reputation management.

 This summer, I took on a new challenge in Orlando as a Field Marketing Intern, serving as the bridge between the Operations and Marketing teams. I got closer to our customers, supported associates, and executed on-site activations that brought our brand to life in the community. Currently, I continue with Summit Wash as a Brand Marketing Intern, helping shape how the company presents itself to customers and elevating its perception across the multiple regions they operate in.

 Along the way, I learned that there is an additional “P” in marketing: people. Customers, employees, and community--all of them play a role in shaping the story of a brand, even one as everyday as a car wash.

 In this presentation, I share how I navigated these different roles, what brand management looks like for a traditional business, and how Beloit connections, such as Matt Laszlo’s support, helped me step into an opportunity that has defined my early marketing career.

 This summer, I interned at The New York Times in the Revenue and Operations Department, where I gained a deeper understanding of how digital advertising and analytics fuel the newsroom behind the scenes.

 As an Ads Business Analytics Intern, my role went beyond building dashboards, handling ad-hoc requests, and collaborating with cross-functional teams (e.g., Ads Operations, Finance, Programmatic Ads). I introduced a clustering approach, an unsupervised machine learning technique, to help reframe how the department defines its client base. What began as a capstone project for my team was later expanded and presented to AdTech leadership.

 Through this internship, I strengthened my ability to communicate insights to different stakeholders and gained confidence in bringing new ideas to the table. It showed me that, even as an intern, taking initiative and applying skills beyond what is expected can lead to real impact.

 Building professional connections beyond Beloit can feel overwhelming, especially when you are just getting started. In this session, we share practical strategies and personal experiences on how to expand your network both offline and online in ways that feel intentional, approachable, and effective.

 We discuss how to make the most of in-person events, like conventions and conferences, as well as how to navigate online networking, including reaching out through LinkedIn, mutual contacts, and professional or cultural groups. Audience members learn how to focus their outreach, build meaningful connections, and grow their network with purpose.

 In June 2025, we traveled with Professor Amy Sarno to Belgrade, Serbia to attend the Dah Teatar’s Arts and Human Rights Festival 2025 and perform Sarno’s original play “A Peace of Cookie.” While attending the festival, we had the amazing opportunity to meet and interact with students and professionals from over seventeen countries. Through workshops, performances, and even sing-a-alongs of Serbian songs, we learned about the impact art can have on creating change on a local and international level.

 In this presentation, we will discuss how festival participants used their art to examine their own national identities to make connections with others in the international community. We will share some snippets of our contribution to the festival, “A Peace of Cookie,” in which we examine the impact American capitalism has on ourselves and the globe.

 Around 2,000 Rohingya refugees have been resettled in Chicago, making it the largest concentration of Rohingya in the U.S. The Rohingya Culture Center (RCC) is a non-profit organization that helps ease the path to naturalization for Rohingya refugees through case management, ESL classes, health support, adult tutoring, and after-school programs for children. Most importantly, it serves as a center for community-building.

 As a case management intern at RCC, I assisted senior case managers as they helped Rohingya refugees transition into life in the United States, which included tasks such as helping people book doctor’s appointments, set up health insurance, pay utility bills, register their children for school or child care, and find jobs.

 This summer, I was able to take action in my field of interest. Having previously completed a semester-long project developing strategies to combat education deprivation in Myanmar for Rohingya children, I was able to transfer my knowledge about the persecution of the Rohingya population in Myanmar as well as my understanding of human rights advocacy to a real-world professional experience. Working at RCC was a dream come true for me.

 Over the summer, I worked on a research project with Professor Susan Furukawa about ecocriticism in Japan. Ecocriticism explores the different ways in which we portray or think about the environment and human beings’ relationship with nature in literature and other forms of media. This project investigates how ecocriticism can be applied to Japanese literary and cultural contexts. My research focused on identifying how ecocritical perspectives emerge in response to important historical and cultural moments, including the colonization of the Ainu, the atomic bombings of World War II, the Minamata disease, the 2011 triple disaster, as well as contemporary environmental challenges facing Japanese society.

 Drawing on novels, poetry, and film, I compiled an annotated bibliography. My research reveals that Japanese literature often portrays nature in paradoxical ways: as both destructive and healing, pure and contaminated, conquered and uncontrollable. By examining these trends over time, it is clear that there is an undercurrent of deep ecological awareness in Japanese literature and media. Through this project, I gained invaluable research experience in the humanities, as I learnt to think critically, read efficiently, and formulate arguments to support my thesis.

 In a few months while at Outhad AI, we went from a fun conversation to coding in our dorm rooms to pre-seed venture capital funding. This presentation chronicles our journey from ideation through pitching, selling and building a B2B product for E-commerce stores.

 We discuss how we came up with ideas, how we sold it to our first clients and eventually reached over $25k in recurring revenue and over $100k in letters of intent, how we pivoted to a revolutionary E-commerce product, and how we raised significant venture capital funding for a valuation of over a million dollars, all from our dorm rooms.

 Attendees gain insights into applying AI to large datasets efficiently, navigating early investment processes, and translating experimental prototypes into a cohesive, scalable product, highlighting key challenges in early-stage development, iterative product pivots, and strategies for securing initial clients and funding.

 We discuss the identification of a gap in personalized customer experiences for mid- to large-sized e-commerce companies and how our team developed Outhad CAP: a real-time platform that unifies store data and enables 1:1 personalization, recommendations, and marketing automation.

 By the end of the session, participants understand practical lessons for launching a B2B AI startup, including rapid prototyping, customer validation, and leveraging modular AI architectures to create impactful, revenue-generating solutions.

 This summer, I joined the Alvarado Lab at UW–Madison through the American Heart Association/Cardiovascular Research Center fellowship to study how stress kinases affect NaV1.5, the sodium ion channel responsible for the start of the cardiac action potential. Earlier work used anisomycin, a drug that activates many pathways at once, which made the results harder to read. My goal was to build a cleaner, more direct test.

 I used human embryonic kidney cells engineered to express NaV1.5 and set up a kinase assay with the protein, ATP, and active p38 enzyme. I then checked for phosphorylation using a Western blot with an antibody that specifically detects phosphorylation. In parallel, I also decided to look into the biophysical properties of the ion channel using patch-clamp electrophysiology (measuring the sodium currents from single cells with a tiny glass pipette).

 This was my first full wet-lab experience. I learned how to perform cell culture, PCR, Western blots, and spent many hours on the patch rig. This work pushed me to apply to MD-PhD programs and to study electrophysiology. Outside the lab, I loved Madison, went rock climbing with my lab partners, and built amazing relationships with the other fellows.

 During Summer 2025 in the Biomedical Scholars Program (Pakula Fellowship) at Beloit College, I explored a basic but consequential question in plant biology: what simple factors help seeds "decide” to germinate? I focused on tomatoes (cultivars Micro-Tom and Ground Jewel) and White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba), two species with contrasting seed coats and dormancy strategies.

 I first learned the project background while assisting in our lab’s pollination work, including demonstrations of buzz pollination, where vibration releases pollen. Building on that context, I designed a pilot to compare easy, low-cost pre-treatments that students, gardeners, and restoration volunteers could use. For tomatoes, I tested three seed extraction/cleaning methods from fresh fruit (immediate rinse, 24-hour soak, 48-hour soak) and a cold-stratification step. I tracked two common metrics, Gmax (maximum percent germinated) and T50 (days to 50% germination), to capture both “how many” and “how fast.” For Baptisia Alba, I evaluated whether a brief scarification and a cool period improved germination.

 Across repeats, Micro-Tom generally reached higher Gmax and faster T50 than Ground Jewel, and longer soaks modestly improved speed without specialized equipment. Baptisia germination increased when the seed coat was lightly abraded and seeds experienced a cool, moist period. These results suggest that very simple pre-treatments can raise yields and shorten timelines for teaching labs, native-plant starts, or small restoration efforts.

 Through this project, I practiced experimental design, careful record-keeping, data visualization, and plain-language science writing. Going forward, I would love to plan to expand to larger sample sizes and test combinations (e.g., soak + cold) to refine practical germination recipes that students and community partners can use.

 We often think of worldbuilding as something that only happens in fiction. In reality, though, all of the systems we exist in were also built, and we are capable of building worlds within our work as well.

 In this presentation, I discuss my own worldbuilding efforts on campus, both with the Center for Integrative Learning through building cross-disciplinary worldbuilding blocks, as well as the curriculum building work that I did alongside it for the introductory course, Speculative Activism. My goal is to discuss my past work and to empower students to see themselves as capable of building worlds as well.

 I worked on a summer project this year. The original goal was to do research on the Armenian Genocide and how its severity has been denied to this day. As time went on, I focused more and more on the experiences of Armenians and how they are affected by the genocide and its denial while assisting in research projects relating to denialism. In particular, I co-wrote an academic blog post about Ottomania and a lesson plan for teaching high school students about the history of Armenians living in Wisconsin.

 I had already interviewed a handful of genocide scholars about the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s denial of it, so I took what I learned from them and leaned more into the significance of Armenian culture and Armenia, itself. I ended up interviewing around a dozen Armenians about their experiences with their identity and taking extensive notes from each session.

 This project helped me grow a lot more as a person and gave me ample opportunity to practice networking and help the people that I was interviewing grow their network. For instance, I found ArmenianJoy.com and instantly shared it with the professor I worked with and several of the Armenians I contacted. Because the website was an ongoing project, I was able to help it become more seen by the community.

 I am not Armenian, so when trying to learn about important aspects about being Armenian, and the things that have been made from Armenian culture, I wanted to listen as much as I possibly could and let all the people that I interviewed share whatever they liked. I was a guest, and they were sharing their stories and what they knew with me by choice. It was my responsibility to honor that.

 In July, we participated in a two-week humanitarian mission to Suriname as part of a joint effort between the United States Air Force Reserve, United States Air Force Active Duty, and the Canadian Army. The mission’s purpose was to provide free medical and dental care to underserved communities and to strengthen international partnerships through hands-on collaboration.

 Clinical services were provided at three primary locations: Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP), Wanica Rural Hospital, and a community clinic in Brownsweg. At each location, we partnered with Surinamese healthcare professionals to deliver essential services, including dental extractions, medical screenings, and health education. By collaborating with Surinamese healthcare professionals, there was meaningful enhancement of both host nation capabilities.

 The experience also served as a powerful professional development opportunity. As military members, we gained firsthand experience and knowledge in medical readiness, adaptability, and cross-cultural teamwork. For our Surinamese counterparts, it was an opportunity to exchange knowledge and resources, creating lasting professional connections. The mission highlighted how humanitarian service not only improves health outcomes but also strengthens trust and interoperability between nations.

 By sharing our story, we hope to shed light on the impact of international humanitarian work, both for the communities served and for the personal and professional growth of those who serve.

 We are current members of the Impact Beloit Community Fellowship, a Community Connections course that gives us the opportunity to complete a full-academic year internship in the Stateline area.

 As part of the Impact Beloit Community Fellowship program, we have been working with non-profits and public organizations across Rock County. In this presentation, we discuss the valuable professional skills we have acquired and reflect on the lessons we have learned through our internship experiences thus far.

 Aislyn: As an intern at City Hall, I have the opportunity to work on several projects, including communication projects such as designing social media posts for the Beloit Fire Department. I also get to participate in developing Beloit’s new Climate Action Plan.

 Shaira: As a Human Resources Assistant Intern at the Stateline Boys & Girls Club, I help create tools to support staff, assist with hiring new program leaders, and help welcome new employees.

 What I enjoy most is seeing how these behind-the-scenes projects improve the programs kids and families rely on every day.

 Serena: Working as a Communications and Data Management Intern at Leadership Development Academy, I not only organize data but also help with social media content creation. During my internship, I learned a lot about learning with new tools that I have never seen before. This experience has truly helped me become a fast learner and have good time management.

 In summer 2025, I completed a three-month software development engineer internship at Amazon in Seattle, WA. I contributed to the Seller Central platform, applying technical skills and soft skills to improve features for millions of merchants. This experience gave me insight into large-scale systems, teamwork, and problem-solving in a fast-paced environment.

 In this talk, I share what I built, the skills I prepared, gained, and the lessons learned before and during my internship.

 As members of Impact Beloit’s Community Fellows program, we have had the opportunity to integrate classroom learning into public health internships.

 Alison: I have been working with the Health, Research, and Evaluations Department at University of Illinois College of Medicine–Rockford campus, assisting in creating surveys which collect both qualitative and quantitative data about the current status of community health in the Rockford area in order to help shape future programming. Through this internship, I have become more informed about how universities collect and use their data to support specific communities.

 Gisela: I am interning for the Rock County Public Health Department as their partnership strategist to establish a sustainable foundation for an Academic Health Department partnership between Beloit College and Rock County Public Health Department. This opportunity has allowed me to establish professional connections through interviewing stakeholders both at Beloit College and Rock County to create an inventory of the current ways and possible practical opportunities for Beloit College students interested in the field of public health.

 In this presentation, we share our project management approach, and how our experiences in our internships have helped us to grow our professional skills and connect our health and society coursework all while developing practical skills in public health ca

 Growing up around a sister with epilepsy gave me a close view of how unpredictable and challenging seizures can be. I discovered the opportunity to research epilepsy detection through EEG (brain wave recordings) and chose to focus on how signals are processed, how machine learning is applied, and how combining EEG with video can improve accuracy.

 My role was to review and synthesize recent studies, compare techniques, and think about future directions for this field. This experience not only gave me new academic tools, but also strengthened my sense of purpose: it connected my personal life to my learning and showed me how my interests in health and technology could guide my future path.

 During the summer of 2025, I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Mentored Research (SUMR) Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. The program introduces undergraduates to careers in health economics through mentored research and professional development.

 Under the guidance of Dr. Atul Gupta and Aidan Crowley, my research involved two projects in applied health economics. The first examined how financial constraints, particularly educational debt, shape physicians’ labor market outcomes, including employment patterns across nonprofit and for-profit institutions. The second analyzed the determinants of collective bargaining among medical trainees, focusing on how institutional characteristics and market conditions influence unionization. Both projects required the integration of large-scale administrative datasets with heterogeneous structures and coding systems. My work centered on harmonizing variables across sources, resolving discrepancies in identifiers, and constructing longitudinal datasets suitable for empirical analysis. Using Python and R, I implemented econometric methods to address issues such as measurement error, sample selection, and causal inference, highlighting the role of rigorous data preparation and methodological precision in generating policy relevant insights.

 In my presentation, I cover three areas: (1) the research itself, emphasizing how economic tools can be applied to questions in healthcare labor markets; (2) the application and preparation process for competitive fellowships such as SUMR; and (3) the broader value of the program in fostering research skills, mentorship, and academic growth. Programs like SUMR expand access to research opportunities, support diverse voices in economics, and prepare undergraduates to contribute to evidence-based policy.

 Hitali Kothari: Belen Partners is a private equity search fund focused on acquiring and operating one strong business. The firm looks for stable, service-based companies with steady cash flow and room to grow. As an Investment Analyst, I help source and analyze potential targets, build financial models, and review company performance. I also support due diligence by researching markets and competitors, summarizing findings, and preparing reports that guide investment decisions.

 Sristi Halder: As a Business Intelligence Intern at ABC Supply, I gained firsthand experience working with data to support decision-making at one of the nation’s largest wholesale distributors of roofing and building materials. My internship focused on analyzing operational trends, building dashboards, and developing insights to improve efficiency and customer service. In this presentation, I share the projects I worked on, the skills I developed in business analytics, and the lessons I learned about applying classroom knowledge in a professional setting.

 Stacy Chen: Through Impact Beloit’s Concierge Internship Program, I interned at Geronimo Hospitality Group, working on content creation and marketing, from campaign planning to photo shoots. The experience allowed me to connect classroom knowledge with practice, sharpen my creativity and market insights, and grow outside my comfort zone. It also deepened my understanding of brand–community connections and became an important step in my career journey.

 Annika Waldron: Since last spring, I have been a Marketing Intern at Hidden Creek Estates through the Concierge Internship Program with Impact Beloit. Hidden Creek Estates is a diverse business offering guest homes, venues for weddings and events, and a restaurant and wine bar. I will share how my coursework and experiences at Beloit College have supported my work, primarily in social media marketing, where I turn customer insights into successful posts and campaigns promoting Hidden Creek.

 In the summer of 2024, after my junior year of high school, I entered a program that allowed me to complete a nine-week internship with a research lab at UW-Madison. I found placement within the Badger Athletic Performance Lab (BAP), which uses data from Division I Badger athletes and the surrounding athletic population to advance sports medicine healthcare and biomechanics research.

  During my internship, I was trained to process cross-sectional ultrasounds of the patellar tendon. Following the conclusion of this internship, the lab’s need for analysis of medical imaging persisted, and I was brought on as a student hourly employee. Throughout my senior year of high school, my knowledge expanded as I learned how to interpret and annotate long-axis ultrasounds and MRIs of the patellar tendon. Today, I am able to utilize that knowledge to process scans for BAP remotely from Beloit.

  In this presentation, I provide a brief overview of patellar tendon anatomy and discuss how cross-sectional ultrasounds, longitudinal ultrasounds, and MRIs can be used to identify tendinopathy and track progress among patients recovering from ACL reconstruction. In addition, I discuss the technological, time management, and communication skills that I have obtained from this experience and how it has affected my academic path.

 We are both currently full-academic year interns in the Impact Beloit Community Fellowship who work with local organizations focused on encouraging literacy in children: (Casey) and Stateline Community Action’s Literacy for Life (Levi).

 In this presentation we discuss what we’ve been working on. Casey has been working with parents to discuss what children would like from the library while Levi has been working on early brain development research to encourage community partners to join Literacy for Life’s mission.

 A semester abroad can be one of the biggest growth experiences of one’s life, but many students may find it hard to get out in the local community of the host country.

 In Australia I was able to escape the American bubble many short-term study abroad students find themselves in. In this presentation I discuss how I managed to escape it and the benefits I experienced from it.

 Over the summer, I worked on a project analyzing how changes in Medicaid coverage impacted the welfare of high school students in Texas. I analyzed county level data to examine trends and correlations in the decline of Medicaid accessibility to low-income families within the state. Education has always been an important facet of my professional/academic career. I was fortunate enough having grown up in Texas to have access to significant resources throughout high school (especially during the Covid-19 pandemic). Coming out of that period, I witnessed firsthand the disastrous effects that the pandemic had on childhood academic development, both post-grad and during my first internship as a teacher in Worcester, MA. In times of academic struggle and recovery, it is especially important to ensure students have the resources they need to succeed. The intention of this project was to examine how the changes in Medicaid policy influence academic performance. For this project I worked on data cleaning, preliminary analysis of the data, and creating data visualizations.

 The Restorative Justice (RJ) Campus Initiative fosters opportunities for conflict resolution and community dialogue by bringing people together, providing spaces for healing, and finding ways to make both the harmed and the community whole. This voluntary process serves as an alternative to more punitive measures proposed to resolve conflict and repair harm within a community. Damila Hurn and Thomas Fleming are the inaugural interns for the RJ Initiative. Both Hurn and Fleming are trained in restorative principles and facilitating restorative circles, and work under the direction of Dr. Gloria Bradley. She is joined by the chief advisor, Josh Moore, and the faculty leader, Dr Sonya Maria Johnson.

  The aim of this presentation by Damila and Thomas is to provide a space to inform more campus members about RJ and why it is being implemented on campus. We will cite independent research that speaks to both the principles and outcomes of restorative justice, and the shortcomings of more retributive forms of justice. Some of the key principles of restorative justice are dialogue, healing, inclusivity, addressing structural issues, and amplifying community voices. The presentation will also discuss how the program is being implemented on campus and how students and faculty can be involved. Both interns will bring their perspectives from both their research and work experience.

 Dynamic sparsity appears in modern ML systems such as mixtures-of-experts (MoE), top-k MLPs, embedding retrieval, and streaming attention. Although each step activates only a small working set of rows, the dominant implementation fully rebuilds a packed “active block” via gather/index-select, moving O(m⋅S) bytes (active rows m, bytes/row S) even when only a small delta changes. We present Paired Replacement, a differential caching algorithm that updates the packed block in O(k⋅S) bytes, where k is the mask delta (added+removed). Under a single-buffer contiguous layout with free reordering, we prove any algorithm must perform at least max(∣added∣, ∣removed∣) full-row writes, and we show Paired Replacement attains this bound via paired overwrites, append of residual additions, and swap-with-last for residual removals.

 We implement a C++/PyTorch CPU backend and three CUDA kernels (one warp per row) for paired substitution, append, and swap-fill, with coalesced accesses and optional on-chip staging; a two-buffer stream design overlaps updates with GEMMs. Benchmarks confirm bytes moved scale as max(A,R)⋅S, with 3–8× CPU update-time speedups for small deltas and GPU update throughput approaching device bandwidth. Against index_select and a compaction baseline, Paired Replacement reduces update time and preserves contiguous, GEMM-friendly layouts. In an end-to-end MoE block (top-k∈{1,2}, 80–95% stickiness) on a single accelerator, Paired Replacement delivers ≥1.2× step-time speedup and higher tokens/s; a streaming KV-attention variant similarly outperforms naive rebuilds. Our results establish Paired Replacement as a theoretically optimal and practically effective primitive for dynamic sparse inference on both CPU and GPU.

 I present a new programming language, Franz, which is a high-level functional, Slot-based Object‑Oriented Programming language where everything is a function and prototype objects(dicts + send + proto chain). It is an alternative to OCaml or Haskell; it’s like Python in simplicity and OOP, but functional, and C++/Rust in latency. If OCaml, Python, JavaScript, and Rust had a baby, then it would be this language, Franz. Its minimalistic core makes Franz easy to learn, while its dynamic scope and rich standard library keep it expressive for real work in low-latency systems.

 A few things you can do with the Franz Functional Prototype Oriented Programming Language: IO, Compare, Logic, Math/Statistics, Control, Conditions, Data Types/ Type Casting:, Lists/Strings:, Pattern Matching, Threads and Concurrency, Dictionary, OOP(Prototype-Oriented, Keyword‑Free).

 Franz pairs security with reproducibility: capability‑based imports grant least‑privilege access to effects (print, files, shell, events), and a deterministic, cooperative scheduler with record/replay makes executions exactly reproducible, ideal for debugging, teaching, and research. It stays small yet powerful: algebraic effects with first‑class handlers let you intercept or virtualize IO without new syntax; prototype‑style OOP (objects as records plus send) gives familiar modeling without classes; pattern matching and dictionaries boost ergonomics; and a live REPL supports time‑travel stepping. For reach and deployment, Franz produces single‑file binaries and targets WebAssembly for browser‑based playgrounds.

 I am also going to talk about how it was born. And why was it born? The need in the market? And the flexibility it gives for developing low-latency software. Future of this language.

 The Coe College Wilderness Field Station (WFS) takes place in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota. During the summer, four-week sessions are held for students to learn a provided topic that involves the upper Minnesota ecosystem, all while living and learning alongside it.

 Wilderness field work is not for everyone. It can be isolating to be out in the woods for four weeks with the nearest town about thirty minutes away and having limited cell service. There were times where my confidence was tested, but I learned a great deal about myself during the experience. Ultimately, I found my time at the Wilderness Field Station to be engaging and refreshing.

 In this conference, I detail my experiences from the Coe College WFS and do not shy away from sharing the most difficult parts. I also delve into my independent research on the plant genus Utricularia, commonly known as the bladderwort, and how it was in fact one of the weirdest subjects of study I have explored.

 This presentation is based on my second-year McNair Scholars program and was conducted in summer 2025 at the field station in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The station afforded me the opportunity to learn about the layered histories of exclusion, dispossession, and resilience that shape Black and Indigenous communities’ relationship to the American “wilderness.” My field research also helped me explore my personal experience as a Black woman in ways that I did not anticipate before I began conducting my field research.

 My symposium presentation will trace how the very idea of wilderness was constructed through the forceful removal of Native peoples from their ancestral land to open up the "frontier" for colonization and exploitation of natural resources. This process, facilitated by the U.S. government since the 1880s in the Boundary Waters region, required the forceful displacement and relocation of the native population to reservations first, and to urban areas since the 1940s. As a result, by the mid-twentieth century Native communities found themselves living alongside Black communities, "confined" to the polluted landscapes of some of the country’s most polluted cities.

 Discovering this story of dispossession from the land and subjugation was an emotional process of self-exploration because it led me to interrogate my own experience as a woman of African descent. It guided me through an examination of how fear, representation, and historical trauma influence Black relationships to the outdoors. However, my research also helped me discover efforts of reclamation, healing, and environmental justice. By connecting stories from Ojibwe voices, poets, and scholars with my own field experiences, I invite the audience to consider how access to land and nature is deeply tied to questions of justice, race, and belonging.

 We use new data from the 2025 Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to explore whether dark energy—the hypothetical form of energy driving the universe’s accelerated expansion—might be changing over time.

 Our study focuses on quintessence, a theory that explains dark energy as a dynamical field rather than a fixed cosmological constant. We test several versions of this theory, each with different types of potential energy functions: hilltop, monomial, and decaying. While some quintessence models match the DESI data slightly better than the standard cosmological constant, the improvements are too small to be considered statistically convincing.

 We then extend the analysis to non-minimally coupled quintessence models, in which the field interacts directly with gravity. These models fit the DESI data more strongly and, in some cases, offer significant improvements over the cosmological constant. However, they face important challenges. Such models predict the existence of a fifth force and changes in the effective strength of gravity, both of which are tightly constrained by laboratory and astrophysical tests.

 Overall, our results suggest that evolving dark energy remains an intriguing possibility. Standard quintessence models provide only weak evidence for evolution, but models that couple to gravity show stronger agreement with observations—though at the cost of introducing new tensions with other fundamental physics tests.

 In summer 2025, I worked as a Lending Intern with WomenVenture, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in Minneapolis partnered with Associated Bank. WomenVenture helps women-owned small businesses access capital and financial education.

 I supported the Lending team by reviewing client financials, analyzing cash flows, and assisting with loan documentation. I also cleaned and updated CRM data to improve pipeline accuracy and joined underwriting meetings to learn how mission-driven lenders assess credit.

 The internship helped me gain hands-on experience in impact lending, applying Excel, using analysis skills, and strengthening communication through client work. It showed me how finance can expand opportunities for entrepreneurs and confirmed my interest in impact finance and commercial lending.

 As part of an Impact Beloit Community Connections course, we are working with non-profits throughout Rock County. Through this course we have broken out of the campus "bubble" to learn about Beloit’s past, present, and future. In this presentation, we talk about what we have learned and reflect on our experiences and how we can integrate this class into our professional lives.

 Clara: I am an intern at the Beloit Public Library, working on a local history display about the Black community in Beloit. I also compile resources from historical societies, libraries and archives to create an exhibit. The goal is to build a network to repeat this exhibit with other groups in the future.

 Shobhita: As an administrative intern at the Family Promise of Greater Beloit, I assist with day-to-day operations of an organization dedicated to transforming the lives of families’ experiences with homelessness. Homelessness is a significant and worsening issue in the Beloit area. Family Promise helps families prevent homelessness by offering rental assistance, through a diversion program, and by providing emergency shelter.

 Dariya: I am working at the CARE Center of Blackhawk Technical College. In this role, I learn directly from professionals who provide crisis counseling and connect individuals with vital community resources. The center supports future nurses, law enforcement officers, farmers, and other essential workers in Rock County, ensuring that those preparing to serve the community receive both guidance and assistance in times of need.

 We share our experiences attending courses at the Coe College Wilderness Field Station in Ely, MN. Aspects of this panel presentation include discussion about the application process, applying and receiving scholarships, and how the environment encouraged both academic and personal growth. This presentation also discusses the importance of nature-based education, as it encourages students to develop a deeper connection to the natural world, as well as fostering environmental stewardship and boosting students’ cognitive learning.

 The experiential aspect of this four-week course, culminating in an eight-day trek through the Boundary Waters, will be heavily discussed. We discuss what it was like to live in community with fellow students and nature, deal with intrapersonal conflict, learn skills such as canoeing, portaging, camping, and more. We also share takeaways about what it means to be wild, and hope to encourage more students to take advantage of this life-changing experience.

 This project, conducted through Belmark Associates in partnership with Acts Housing, examines sense of place in Beloit’s Merrill and Hackett neighborhoods, two of the city’s lowest-income areas. Sense of place is defined as residents’ attachment to their community and the ways they describe it. In addition to these measures, we collected demographic information through census-style questions.

 Over the summer, our team refined the survey instrument with client preferences in mind, piloted the use of tablets to improve efficiency, and administered more than 300 door-to-door surveys with a team of seven students. Alongside data collection, we promoted Acts Housing’s services, which help low-income families transition from renting to homeownership. This third iteration of the project (following studies in 2019 and 2022) enables longitudinal comparisons. Findings of our analysis and report that provide Acts Housing insights into demographic data are part of this conference presentation.

 Corruption is commonly understood as illegal activity involving bribery, embezzlement, or abuse of power for personal gain by politicians, business leaders, government officials, and others. While these actions are clearly unethical, history and contemporary examples show that corruption can also be legally facilitated through gaps in domestic and international law. Treaties, financial secrecy regimes, and institutional protections can allow conduct that is morally questionable to remain technically lawful.

 This presentation examines how international law and financial systems can structurally enable corruption. It analyzes the Panama Papers, the Pandora Papers, the Swiss National Bank and Nazi gold, and the 1MDB scandal to show how offshore finance, secrecy jurisdictions, and weak enforcement permit actors to conceal wealth and avoid accountability. International organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have sought reforms, yet persistent loopholes reveal that stronger global transparency measures are required.

 During this presentation, we, students from PRAX 286: Community & Civic Engagement, provide insight into our individual experiences at non-profit/community organizations.

 Evan Muchka: Interning with an organization that directly serves members of an underserved community is an incredibly beneficial and eye-opening experience. This semester I have had the opportunity to intern at HealthNet of Rock County, the only free and charitable clinic (FACC) in Rock County. HealthNet provides free dental, medical, and behavioral health services to patients either living on Medicaid or without any form of health insurance. I have been tasked with creating a proposal for a referral-based physical therapy program for any HealthNet patient in need of PT. This project has required internal and external outreach, doctor-patient observation, and specific research into how a successful PT program is run at a FACC.

 Jocelyn Jordan: Working with the Rock County Sheriff’s Department, I get to encounter many different people from a variety of backgrounds. As an intern, I spend time in every subdivision of the broader department from patrol ride-alongs to re-entry services. While I only get to observe these aspects, the learning I am able to receive from first hand experience has helped me to better understand both the legal obligations of the sheriff’s department and the enhancement of ensuring a better life for inmates during their incarceration and after.

 Shoumika Anannyo: My internship at Family Services of Southern Wisconsin places me at the heart of data-driven social change. As a Data Analysis and Program Evaluation Intern, I am creating systems to measure the outcomes of critical, trauma-informed services like crisis intervention and counseling. I share how I apply quantitative skills to transform data into clear stories of impact through reporting dashboards, illustrating how data evaluation translates numbers into a compelling narrative of community healing and organizational effectiveness.

 The greenhouse offers Beloit students a place to learn and provides a calming atmosphere on a busy campus. We are students who work as greenhouse attendants to create an inviting and peaceful space for all students, faculty, and staff who wish to stop by. We gain hands-on experience by caring for over 70 plants belonging to 35 families and species. We each contribute our own set of skills, passions, and expertise.

 During the school year, the greenhouse is open to the greater campus population between 8am and 4pm Monday through Friday. The nearly 1,600-square-foot building is split into five rooms, which include the tropical room, the succulent/cacti room, a small lab room, the head house room, and a central plant room. Some plants, including the oakleaf fig (Ficus lyrata), night-blooming cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), and Euphorbia splendens (Euphorbia milii var. splendens), are over 30 years old. Other plants featured in the five greenhouse rooms, like the staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum), which was added to the greenhouse in 1964, are over 50 years old.

 During the Beloit and Beyond Conference, join us in the greenhouse from 12:30-2:00 for personalized tours of the space as we encourage comfort in exploring this wonder.

 This study investigates the impact of the European Union’s Work-Life Balance Directive, passed in 2019, with a particular focus on paternity leave provisions, on child and maternal outcomes across European countries. While most EU and affiliated states have introduced some form of paternity leave, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Slovakia, and Switzerland historically offered no statutory paternity leave prior to the Directive. Leveraging this natural variation, these countries serve as a treatment group to assess the Directive’s effects.

 Using Eurostat data from 2014 to 2022, we construct a panel dataset capturing indicators of child health, maternal health, and maternal labor market outcomes. Child health is measured through variables such as infant mortality and birth weight distributions. Maternal health and well-being are proxied by healthcare expenditure and demographic characteristics. Maternal labor market outcomes include female labor force participation and employment gaps. Key control variables account for macroeconomic conditions, childcare availability, educational attainment, and population structure.

 We estimate both Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and fixed effects models to capture the relationship between paternity leave introduction and health and labor outcomes. The OLS model provides baseline cross-sectional estimates, while the fixed effects model controls for unobserved heterogeneity at the country level. Together, these approaches allow for a robust assessment of how the introduction or absence of paternity leave policies aligns with changes in child and maternal outcomes.

 Our study contributes to the growing literature on family policy by providing empirical evidence on the role of paternity leave in shaping child and maternal well-being. These results hold significant policy relevance as countries consider how best to balance economic productivity with family support and gender equality in the labor market.

 The School of Environment & Sustainability (SES) at Beloit College combines an interdisciplinary curriculum, personalized mentoring, and skills training to prepare students for meaningful careers.

  The School offers Certificates of Completion and internship opportunities that provide students with the credentials and experiences employers are seeking. SES courses teach students the critical-thinking, communication, problem-solving, and collaboration skills that ensure success after Beloit. The SES also gives students access to a vast alumni network in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors that provides mentorship from experts within the rapidly expanding green economy. SES students are prepared to make a difference in their community and the world, transforming environmental science and policy into solutions that promote sustainability.

 This presentation highlights recent programming undertaken by the School of Environment & Sustainability.

 Ionized gases, also known as plasmas, are an emerging field of research in physics, engineering, and biomedicine. The semiconductor industry, in particular, relies heavily on low-temperature plasma etching, a process of removing materials from the surface of a substrate to create nanometer-scale circuit patterns. The results are functioning microelectronic devices that we know as computer chips.

 This summer, at The University of Michigan, I worked in the Computational Plasma Science and Engineering Group (CPSEG) to model a continuous-wave etch process inside an industrial-standard etch tool. My work focused on using the Hybrid Plasma Equipment Model (HPEM) and Monte Carlo Feature Profile Model (MCFPM) to analyze properties of Argon/Cl₂ plasmas and feature evolution of silicon substrate. This work requires a combination of plasma chemistry theory, computational analysis, and data modeling.

 I also share insights on a graduate summer course on plasmas for microelectronics and quantum information science that I took through the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) towards the end of this internship. Working at a graduate lab with a renowned researcher not only broadened my knowledge tremendously, but also reinforced my passion for this field. I invite you to learn about my experience and what plasma physics can do.

 The La Suerte Biological Research Station in Costa Rica is an ecological research station within a 3 km2 tropical lowland rainforest fragment, run by the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy. This summer, I was able to take their Primate Behavior and Ecology course, which lasted for four and a half weeks.

 I learned general primate research methods, specific behaviors of the three monkey species living within the site, and site specific ecology. I used this knowledge to formulate, carry out, and complete a research project studying primate social behavior trends between two out of the three monkey species within the site.

 The research project I designed was a comparative analysis between the Central American Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and the Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata) in their social behaviors, specifically in rates of agonistic behavior versus affiliative behavior. It is my hope that this presentation helps inspire other students to seek out summer research opportunities that interest them and expand their worldview and experience.

 After almost backing out from studying abroad at the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito two times, I can say that my time abroad was challenging, transformative, and unlocking. Prior to my departure for Ecuador I had so many fears about language, people, and being alone in another country, but going anyway paved way to an unforgettable experience with people I will always hold close, dynamic adventures in many different parts of the country, and a full immersion into wildlife and biodiversity.

 During spring 2025, I studied abroad in Cumbayá, Quito, in Ecuador. During that time I also visited many cities in Ecuador including Baños, Mindo, and Cuenca, and explored areas like the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Yasuní National Park in the Amazon Rain Forest, and Isla Santa Cruz in the Galápagos Islands. While doing so, I was able to immerse myself in and learn about a culture very different from my own, dedicate time to speaking a language that wasn’t my primary language, and experience the education system from a very different perspective. Above all, I had the ability to see and take pictures of animals and plants in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.

 In my presentation, I discuss my experiences while abroad, including my perspective taking classes, and meeting new people both inside and outside of the educational setting. I also share some hyper specific pieces of advice relative to studying abroad in Ecuador that I compiled within my final days there, alongside many wonderful animal pictures.

 The Coe College Wilderness Field Station in northern Minnesota, surrounded by over a million acres of protected forest and thousands of lakes, offers a one-of-a-kind setting in which to study the world around us. This presentation discusses the experience of learning in the wilderness and carrying out an independent research project.

 The research performed explores factors that affect aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in Boundary Waters lakes. Aquatic macroinvertebrates are incredibly important organisms in freshwater ecosystems, filling a range of niches and performing many ecosystem services. A variety of factors are known to affect their diversity, including vegetation, shoreline surface area complexity, and human activity.

 Understanding their diversity, especially in an area that is critical for conservation and recreation, is important because they can be used as biological indicators of ecological health and inform decisions about responsible land use. To do this, I took samples from a variety of shoreline types: forested, grassy/marshy, rocky, and human-impacted. I then identified the organisms and examined diversity using Shannon and Simpson biodiversity indices.

 This wilderness experience was full of ups and downs, challenges that needed to be overcome, times when flexibility was needed (like doing a research project with no Wi-Fi), and most importantly, learning how to find the strength to pick yourself up when you fall over during a portage while wearing a fifty-pound backpack.

 In addition to discussing the experience of taking a class in the wilderness and the findings of my independent research, I reflect on how my studies in my first year at Beloit prepared me for this experience and how what I learned this summer will impact future directions at Beloit and beyond.

 Going into another summer of Investment Banking (IB) you think you know what to expect, however, every deal you work on is very different and the work it requires changes every other day.

 This summer, I split my time across two sell-sides—one in Industrials, the other in Tech & Services—as well as an intense pitch process. Each deal taught me something new about the IB world: the way industries move, how teams navigate pressure, and how investors’ eyes light up at the right narrative. But one deal stood out as a clear favorite, and not just because of the financials. It was unexpected, bold, and, surprisingly, about marketing. From marketing materials to managing directors and management team,it was like I have never seen before. This was the experience that reshaped how I think about deals: not just as numbers on a page, but as stories fighting to be told the right way.

 Since 1995, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has organized annual international conferences, known as COPs (Conference of the Parties). Each November, delegates from nearly every country meet to discuss global strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. In 2024, I attended COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan as an official UN Observer. I was granted access to high-level negotiations, press conferences, and events, as well as opportunities to network with prominent environmental organizations.

 This presentation covers the COPs themselves, including an overview of the political tensions, prominent figures, and current debates that have shaped their successes and failures over the years, as well as my experience of COP29 specifically. I share the difficulties I encountered and how those experiences have shaped my climate activism post-COP, and I explore how these conferences have influenced climate action and attitudes on a global scale, leading to both remarkable breakthroughs and catastrophic failures.

 For my entire junior year, I studied abroad at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in Belfast, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). From academics to culture, I learned many things that broadened my horizons outside of my already existing bicultural view of the world. Through photography, I was able to find hidden gems in Northern Ireland that elevated my experience abroad and made deeper personal connections.

 There were some struggles I encountered living for a whole academic year in Northern Ireland, but I found it to be beneficial to my growth and worldview. With limited funds, I found myself needing to save but also realizing that I can spend my time locally without the need to hop around from country to country. My immersion in everyday life felt more genuine when connecting with the culture and locals in Ireland, especially in the city of Belfast. Additionally, by saving money, my time there was enriched, and it gave me a wider perspective of Ireland. It allowed me to find opportunities–like being a photographer for a club that I did not expect to find because of the type of immersion I was experiencing every day.

 In this presentation, not only do I present the differences and similarities between Beloit College and QUB, but talk about how picking up a new hobby (photography) changed my daily life in Ireland.

 Because of recent visa restrictions and policy shifts under the current U.S. administration, I became curious about how these changes might affect the U.S.–China trade deficit. International students from China contribute billions of dollars each year through tuition and living expenses. Higher education is considered an export and increasing it helps to narrow the trade deficit. To study this, I used data from Bloomberg to gather trade and enrollment data. Then I applied time-series and regression models to see how enrollment trends for Chinese international students are linked to changes in the U.S.–China trade deficit.

 This project gave me the chance to apply classroom concepts to real-world data while also building stronger skills in R and Econometric analysis. More importantly, it showed me how something as familiar as international education can have a surprising role in global trade, and it left me wanting to keep exploring the connection between policy, economics, and education in the future.

 Working in the film industry may be a seemingly impossible task for an undergraduate student. This was proven presumptuous by Dr. Bookman, Chair of Media Studies, when he offered students the chance to participate in Cult College, a feature film production taking place on campus. We went into this experience hoping to be able to witness snippets of the film production process. Instead, every moment on set was filled with active participation and inspiring creativity.

 Between May and June, our group of creative collaborators grew accustomed to the role of a production assistant. We all developed a new routine: analyzing scripts, scouting locations, dressing sets, sourcing extras, building props, operating cameras, recording audio, collaborating with actors, and calling the words “Scene—take one” with the snap of a slate, all while getting to know the cast and crew.

 In four short weeks, we formed connections with fellow crew members, learned vital skills from actors and directors flown in from across the country, and experienced a professional film set with an added safety net. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that taught us unforgettable lessons about film, community, and adaptability. Over 20 minutes, we delve into this irreplaceable experience and the skills we gained from it and share the behind the scenes of a film shot on and around Beloit College’s very own campus.

 Global Experience Seminars offer students more than just academic credit. Our experience in Asturias, Spain provided immersive and cross-disciplinary learning that goes beyond the boundaries of majors and minors.

 In this presentation, we share our experiences from the 2025 SPAN/ENVS seminar Building the Green Paradise: Sustainability in Action in Spain, based in the principality of Asturias. Each of us approached this course from different academic backgrounds and our final projects reflect this diversity. We hope to demonstrate how study abroad experiences can foster both personal and intellectual growth by sharing a bit about our experience and our final projects. This seminar taught us far more than what was listed in the course description, and we hope to encourage other students to consider including global learning in their college experience.

 The Louisiana continental shelf contains submerged relic barrier islands, known as sand shoals, that were formed by the previous outflow of the Mississippi River. Sand shoals provide many ecological services such as important habitat for plankton and nekton, a hypoxia refuge for local species, and a sand resource for restoration. Due to their shallower depth in the water column, sand shoals have greater benthic production than deeper surrounding waters.

 The purpose of this study is to quantify benthic and pelagic primary production and determine the contribution of each to the total Gross Primary Production (GPP) on Ship Shoal. I hypothesized that benthic GPP will be greater than pelagic GPP, due to the shallow nature of the shoal. Benthic and pelagic samples were collected from Ship Shoal and incubated in the lab to determine oxygen fluxes under differing light conditions. These oxygen fluxes allowed me to calculate cumulative daily GPP for both benthic and pelagic environments. Total daily GPP on the shoal was 1312 mmol O₂/m². The benthic primary production makes up 7.5% of the overall and was 98.7 mmol O₂/m², while the Pelagic primary production is 92.5% of the total and was 1213 mmol O₂/m². The methods of this study could be used as a model for further research or as a continuation of this study to determine if the contribution of benthic and pelagic primary production changes seasonally or annually.

 This semester, we are taking the PRAX 286: Community and Civic Engagement course. This is a community-based learning course, integrating fieldwork and reflection. We are each partnering with an organization that aligns with our interests beyond Beloit. We are dedicating over 90 hours over the course of the semester, which will deepen our understanding of civic engagement.

 Sadie: My internship for the Community Connections course is with the Stateline Literacy Council, which works to provide people with English as a Second Language (ESL) and General Education Development (GED) classes. I work closely with the Executive Director to help with administrative tasks and the GED class, as we are trying to integrate computers into the curriculum. Additionally, I research other community resources that the students would be able to utilize that fit their needs. Throughout my presentation, I discuss my experience thus far in the internship and the positive impact it has had on me.

 Amelia: I am partnered with Nature At The Confluence (NATC), a nature center located in South Beloit. NATC mission is to create community connections through welcoming spaces and engaging events. As a student intern, I help with short term admin projects, planning and running events, and researching ways to improve the center’s ecosystems. During my presentation, I discuss the impact this experience has had on me.

 Nathaniel: Interning at Community Action Inc. offers a variety of experience in terms of outreach, housing,employment and training. I work with the Merrill Community sharing garden and the Merrill Community Center, helping gather and grow the garden while also working with the community center to research grants, create community surveys, and plan events within the community. Throughout my presentation, I discuss my experience with the internship and what I have learned thus far.

 Noor: I am partnered with Hendricks CareerTek, a free afterschool program that provides students with hands-on skills in areas such as coding, construction, and medical pathways, as well as opportunities for job shadowing. At my internship, I have been assisting with day-to-day operations, creating marketing content, writing partner letters, and preparing for large scale community events like “Dare to Dream.” This experience has strengthened my problem-solving and adaptability while giving me a deeper appreciation for the impact of community-based progra

 Salicylic Acid is a phenolic compound with medicinal use as a precursor of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). This project investigates the extraction and qualitative analysis of salicylic acid from willow bark and a variety of botanical sources, with the goal of broadening understanding of plant-based natural products and teaching introductory chemistry students about more advanced techniques and instrumentation. This work also focuses on providing an expanded background on salicylic acid extraction sources relating to ancient American Indian and other cultural medicinal practices for general chemistry students at Beloit College.

 Interning is one of the first steps to gaining and developing crucial professional skills and experiences. Before last summer, I did not hold any prior positions or experiences in the environmental field. However, that all changed when the nonprofit organization WAICU presented an opportunity I could not pass up on. Through WAICU’s internship offering and guidance from Beloit College Career Works, I was accepted as a Conservation Education (CE) Intern at the Zoological Society of Milwaukee (ZSM) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 ZSM’s mission statement contains three pillars: Conserve, Educate, and Support. ZSM offers a variety of programs and initiatives including summer zoo classes. ZSM works alongside the Milwaukee County Zoo (MCZ) to not only uphold the three pillars but also offer the youth vivid experience and memories of interactive learning at the zoo. Within these classes, the CE internship entailed working as a combination of a classroom assistant, camp counselor, and zoo tour guide.

 As a result of participating in the internship, I saw my professional skills and passion for conservation education drastically evolve. Furthermore, I became knowledgeable in subjects like animal empathy along with ZSM and MCZ’s conservation actions. In this presentation, I inform others about the internship in vivid detail and share how to provide insight into getting an internship experience through WAICU.

 In a time of political uncertainty, finding ways to protect vulnerable groups and create a way to retain history is vital, which is why the communities that we build are important. On our campus, club life is one of the most vital parts of a fulfilling student life. Club longevity is something I see clubs struggle with every year, and I saw it in my own club’s records. There are plenty of reasons why clubs struggle, including lack of student engagement, funding, and even simple things like teamwork. However, a major struggle is the misunderstanding of the historian position or even ignoring the role entirely, and making adjustments to the historian position can create lasting positive impacts and longevity.

 With research from the archives and my experience as the Sexuality and Gender Alliance’s (SAGA) historian, this presentation goes over exactly what the historian’s role should be in a club and gives students the tools to catalog history for the future as protection and for the benefit of our clubs.

 During my summer internship at CIBC US Bank, I worked as a Product Intern, gaining experience in how financial institutions leverage data and product strategy to deliver value to clients. My role involved collaborating with cross-functional teams to analyze business needs, improve product workflows, and streamline reporting processes. This internship gave me exposure to the complexities of product management in the financial sector, including balancing customer needs, regulatory requirements, and operational constraints.

 In my presentation, I share key lessons learned and highlight specific challenges and successes from my projects.

 This summer I completed a rotational internship at Northmarq in commercial real estate finance. I worked across debt and equity, underwriting, and asset management, which let me follow a transaction from initial screening to closing and into post-closing performance.

 In debt and equity I saw how the capital stack is assembled and how term sheets reflect risk, return, and market conditions. In underwriting, I worked with cash flow analysis and market context to support credit and structure decisions, including proceeds and execution. In asset management, I learned how performance is monitored after closing and how strategies adjust when conditions shift.

 I also observed each stage of the capital markets process. This included agency lending with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for multifamily homes and how completed financing can be securitized as commercial mortgage-backed securities for investors.

 If you are interested in how debt and equity finance properties, how underwriting drives structure and execution, and how agency and securitized markets channel capital into real assets, this session offers a clear overview.

 The restoration of native prairie ecosystems is increasingly urgent due to habitat loss, invasive species, and the impacts of climate change. Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), a foundational warm-season grass in North American prairies, is valued for its ecological resilience but presents challenges in seed germination and establishment. This study evaluated the effectiveness of three pretreatment strategies, cold stratification, gibberellic acid (GA₃), and soil-based germination, on improving germination outcomes in S. scoparium. A full factorial design tested all combinations of treatments across 240 seeds. Germination progress was quantified using ImageJ image analysis software and statistical modeling in R to assess maximum germination percentage (Gmax), time to 50% germination (T50), overall germination, and chi-square tests.

 Treatments that included GA₃ resulted in higher germination percentages, highlighting its central role in breaking dormancy. The combination of GA₃ with cold stratification (CS-GA) yielded the highest Gmax (53.33%) and one of the fastest T50 values (8 days). Soil-based treatments, while ecologically relevant, appeared to delay germination when used alone or alongside other treatments that did not contain gibberellic acid. These findings suggest that GA₃ is essential for initiating germination in S. scoparium under controlled conditions, and that its effectiveness may be enhanced by prior cold exposure.

 The study offers practical guidance for prairie restoration, especially where seed supply is limited. Incorporating a GA₃ soak pretreatment can significantly increase germination success and support more efficient reestablishment of native grasses in degraded landscapes.

 During summer 2025, I served as a STEM Program Coordinator Intern at Rock County Jumpstart, a nonprofit supporting minority-owned businesses in Southern Wisconsin. This experience provided hands-on opportunities to engage with entrepreneurs in the STEM Career Accelerator, apply technical knowledge in real-world contexts, and contribute to culturally relevant learning resources.

 One of my central responsibilities was designing a digital eBook/workbook that reinforced curriculum concepts taught to local business owners. Drawing on my coursework in technology, I translated complex tools—including generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and DALL·E—into accessible guides tailored to diverse adult learners. I also created outreach content, organized program materials, and supported classmates with technical platforms such as HTML and Tinkercad.

 Beyond technical development, this internship helped me grow as a communicator and leader. I facilitated class note distribution, adapted language and design for multiple learning styles, and participated in weekly planning sessions where I contributed feedback and strategic ideas. We focused on building trust, fostering inclusion, and centering equity in our work with a cohort of established and aspiring business owners.

 This experience deepened my understanding of how digital literacy, cultural relevance, and community-centered support can empower small business owners. It also allowed me to integrate academic theory with field-based application in ways that were tangible and impactful. Through mentorship, collaboration, and self-directed learning, I strengthened my adaptability, professional confidence, and commitment to mission-driven work.

 How does the perception of bilingualism differ between countries? After a year spent studying abroad in Argentina and Germany, I return to Beloit with my experiences studying two foreign languages (Spanish and German), both in a traditional classroom setting and through immersion. As an Education and Youth Studies major, my coursework abroad also focused on second/foreign language pedagogy.

  In this presentation, I reflect on my experiences abroad as a future educator and language learner, and how these experiences have begun to shape my teaching philosophy before my student teaching semester in Spring 2026. I analyze how language education and attitudes towards bilingualism vary between countries. I also explore how dialects of the same language differ and the societal implications of a standard dialect through an educational lens. Lastly, I outline the ways in which second language education can promote personal and professional development, foster empathy and critical thinking, and challenge systems of linguistic privilege.

 How do international experiences shape our understanding of the world and also a deeper understanding of ourselves? What happens when we step outside the familiar and immerse ourselves in a different culture?

 During my time at Beloit College, I have participated in two short-term and two semester-long study abroad programs. After a year spent abroad, I return to Beloit with my experiences through each phase of the study abroad process: pre-departure, in-country, and re-entry. Now, working as a peer mentor for the Global Experience Office, I aim to help students navigate these stages by offering my own insights, as well as highlighting the ways that international experiences can lead to professional and personal growth.

 I begin by outlining the steps I took to prepare for my time abroad. I reflect on the process of adapting to different cultural norms and experiencing different educational systems while working towards completing my majors. Furthermore, I describe how I navigated the challenges that come with being an exchange student, as well as how I reflected on my identities in a new context. Lastly, I describe my own experiences adjusting back to life in Beloit and the States after a full year away, as well as discuss the various opportunities that become available post-study abroad.

 By sharing my personal experiences with students thinking about studying abroad, I hope to provide them with an idea of what their experience could look like, while also understanding that everyone’s experience is going to look vastly different depending on their identities, location, goals, etc.

 Studying abroad can often be described as a life-changing experience, and my semester in Brussels, Belgium, proved this theory to be true. Having come to Beloit as an international student myself, I was already navigating life and academics in a foreign country. Choosing to study abroad and leave my second home was a difficult decision, but it was also one of the best ones I have ever made. Brussels offered me the unique chance to compare perspectives, adapt to yet another cultural context, and further sharpen the global outlook that has defined my college career.

 At the Brussels School of Governance, I took specialized courses in public diplomacy, sustainable development law, and finance, gaining insights into how international institutions address urgent challenges. The city itself, home of the European Union, NATO, and many NGOs, became a living classroom. From attending policy conferences to walking past the European Parliament on my way to class, I experienced first-hand the intersection between theory and practice.

 Brussels also emphasized the importance of multilateral cooperation, inclusivity, and dialogue. Interacting with diplomats, scholars, and decision-makers strengthened my conviction that addressing global concerns such as climate change, human rights, and sustainable development necessitates international collaboration.

 The lessons I learned on a personal level were equally significant. My resilience and empathy grew stronger as I adjusted to a new cultural setting, navigated a language with which I was not very confident, and made friends from entirely different backgrounds than my own. This experience has further strengthened my belief that studying overseas fosters adaptability and intercultural understanding, in addition to enhancing one’s academic career.

 This presentation outlines the academic, professional, and personal changes and improvements I made during my six months in Brussels, demonstrating how an international education can influence one’s goals.

 In the summer of 2024, I had the opportunity to complete an internship at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. This was my first full-time paid opportunity in the museum field. In this internship, I transferred collections data from one database to another, updated collections files to make objects searchable to the public, and installed art exhibits for public viewing.

 This opportunity led to other opportunities throughout the next year, including an internship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Beloit Historical Society.

 I spent the entirety of the 2024-2025 school year off campus taking advantage of two different programs.

 During the fall of 2024, I participated in a program called Intern Philly, a domestic study away program that created an environment to experience living and working in a large metropolitan area. Domestic study away programs have many benefits, and while the Intern Philly program no longer exists, there are other great programs available to Beloit students.

 I then spent the spring of 2025 in a European city most Americans have never heard of, Brno, Czechia (Czech Republic). Brno is in the center of Central Europe, which makes it a particularly good place to study, because there is easy access to the rest of Europe.

 During my presentation, I will discuss experiential and academic opportunities that I took advantage of while participating in these programs. I will highlight the benefits of off campus study in unique places and share tips for making the most of your time away from Beloit.

 By doing two completely different programs I gained and learned so much that I would not have been able to if I had only studied in one place.

 We are 2025-2026 Impact Beloit Community Fellows who work with non-profit organization that support a common cause: environmental awareness and education. April interns with Wisconsin EcoLatinos, bringing attention to environmental issues to the Hispanic/Latinx community. Julia supports the organization Nature at the Confluence, helping with events and nature-based field trips. Maggie interns at Welty Environmental Center, teaching kids about environmental science and the natural world.

 All three of us have grown while outside of the so-called Beloit College Bubble and have built connections and relationships in the broader Beloit community. For April, helping the community means learning about the air quality and shedding light on how it can affect everyone’s health. For Julia and Maggie, community building involves working with different age groups, like kids and retirees, and striving to understand their perspectives.

 In this presentation, we focus on our individual experiences serving the Beloit community, and how our work educates the community about the environment we all inhabit. In addition, we highlight our learning within the Impact Beloit Fellowship, in particular how we have learned to listen to the community rather than telling them what they need. The Impact Beloit Fellowship has given us the opportunity to make change in our local community and turn what we have learned at Beloit into community-driven action.

 On October 10th-12th, 2025, Concordia Language Villages held the first ever Multicultural and Multilingual College Weekend, featuring cultural immersion in 6 languages: Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Ojibwe, and Spanish. We learned about this opportunity via an announcement Julia received on September 20th. The experience entails full immersion in a foreign language and culture for the weekend’s duration, access to global cuisine, and bonding with others of differing backgrounds. Through these experiences, students are intellectually challenged and enriched in language classes and cultural workshops. Our cohort developed connections with other university students and professors, widening the reach of Beloit College. We became early contributors to this innovative program and hope to continue sending more Beloit students in the future as representatives of the Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) department.

 Our hope with this project was to give Beloit students an unforgettable experience that could connect them to job and graduate school opportunities. In addition, our program sought to demonstrate the type of experimental and experiential learning that Beloit College intends to give us students.

 Marcus is a Spanish and International Relations major. He plans to go to law school after graduating from Beloit College this spring. The weekend honed his Spanish skills and ability to communicate with others.

 Julia is a French Language and Literature major and she plans to attend graduate school in France, so this weekend helped her develop her French communication skills.

 Ella is a Chinese minor and current president of Spanish club. She got a chance to practice her Chinese skills and connect with more Chinese learners and Spanish which she has had more experience in and already had a Concordia Language Village experience with.

 As part of the summer seminar titled Building the Green Paradise: Sustainability in Action that took place in Asturias, Spain, we explored sustainability as more than an environmental concept. Through field visits, community engagement, and final research projects, we examined how cultural heritage and architecture embody resilience and continuity in the region.

 Our presentation focuses on these final projects, which used photography and observation to analyze how built environments carry the past into the present. One project investigated balconies, facades, stonework, and decorative details in urban and rural Asturias, showing how these architectural choices preserve identity and memory while shaping modern life. The other examined statues and public art, considering how historic and contemporary design strategies reflect community values and create a sense of belonging.

 Together, these case studies reveal sustainability as a layered practice: the preservation of culture and place alongside ecological and economic care. In Asturias, centuries-old stone walls are not demolished but incorporated into new buildings; coastal towns maintain vivid traditional colors as both heritage and tourism strategy; and villages survive by presenting themselves as ‘living archives.’ These examples demonstrate how sustainability can mean honoring continuity, performing tradition, and weaving memory into everyday life.

 By sharing our research findings, we hope to show how experiential learning abroad can reshape the way we understand sustainability. For us, Asturias revealed that sustainable futures are not only built on innovation but also on remembering, protecting the places, practices, and identities that give communities their strength.

Link to the online program