The 2026 University of New Mexico McNair Scholars Research Conference

Oral Presentation Session #12, 3:30 to 3:50 p.m.
-----Scroll to the bottom to view abstracts in the Sched App or PDF----
Presentations:
Canler, Adam - Major: Psychology, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Santa Ana A
Title: Exploring the Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and a Growth Mindset

Guerrero Rivera, Katherine  - Major: Criminology and Criminal Justice , University of Maryland, College Park
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Luminaria
Title: Always the Same, Always Effective: The Ever Evolving and Cruel Rhetoric of U.S.-Salvadoran Migration Policies.

Herrera, Nathan - Major: Exercise Science, University of New Mexico
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Acoma A
Title: Effect of Resistance Training on Type 2 Diabetes

Hunt, Roddy - Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Northern Colorado
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Santa Ana B
Title: Barriers in Access to Speech-Language Pathology Services for Latine Caregivers of Young Children in Colorado

Johnson, Fondren - Major: Forensic Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Fiesta A
Title: Punishment or Care: Exploring Factors Associated with Incarceration Versus Psychiatric Diversion in Individuals with Serious Mental Illness 

Lara, Orlando - Major: Biology, University of Chicago
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Lobo B
Title: Characterizing an intronic variant to understand wide disease severity variation among patients with ATP1A3 splice variants

Lopez , Sailyn  - Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Isleta
Title: Colocalization of Ash1 mRNA with Ded1 and Edc3 in Stress Granules and P-Bodies During Heat Stress

Melendez, Chloe - Major: Mechanical engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Lobo A
Title: Investigating Composite Materials of PLA and PLA+

Morales Jr., Ruben  - Major: Justice, Political Philosophy, and Law & Sociology, New Mexico State University
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Fiesta B
Title: “Filed, Forgotten, Deported: When the System Becomes the Sentence”
 
Sepulveda, Johnathan  - Major: Cybersecurity, Michigan Technological University
Oral Presentation Session #12, Room: Acoma B
Title: Securing Digital Evidence Using Blockchain

Velez, Luciano - Awaiting abstract.

Oral Presentation Information for presenters:

• Format: 12-minute presentation, and 3 minutes for Q&A (15 min. total).  Please do not go over your allotted time so that everyone can have a full 15 minutes.
• Organization of presentations:  To enhance your presentation experience at our conference, there will be evaluators and moderators (faculty, staff and grad students) in attendance that will fill out evaluation forms to provide feedback to presenters. Therefore, your presentation will be at the exact time and location as it appears in the schedule. We will not deviate even if there is a no-show.
• Please bring your presentation saved onto a thumb drive/USB drive.  Please arrive at your presentation room early, locate the moderator and ask them to assist you in copying your presentation to the laptop desktop before the session begins.  Then eject your USB drive.  Open up your presentation and make sure it works properly.
• For more information about presentation format, equipment, etc click this link