Research and Writing Samples
Statistical Modeling of Alzheimer's Disease Pathology -- The Balsis Lab, Texas A&M University, September 2014 -- Present
In September of 2014, I joined the Balsis lab at Texas A&M University. Dr Steve Balsis and his lab are interested in the investigation of various clinical disorders, with a specific emphasis on personality disorders and dementia. In the 2015-2016 academic year, I completed the Texas A&M Undergraduate Research Scholars Program with the the Balsis lab, which consisted of me writing a thesis. My thesis is centered on our most recent work, "Statistically Modeling Alzheimer's Disease Pathology as a Function of Relative Volumetric Deficits in Temporal Lobe Regions," a paper that proposes an empirically-driven model of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease as compared to atrophy levels in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus. In March of 2016, I presented our wok at the Texas A&M Student Research Week poster competition and won first place amongst all graduate students in the social sciences (despite being an undergraduate competitor). The photos below show me with our poster at Student Research Week (left) and me receiving first place next to the Texas A&M University mascot, Reveille (right).
Recently, we have begun applying this statistical approach to other unanswered questions in the arena of Alzheimer's disease research, including modeling the additive assessment value of the different neuropsychiatric symptoms that often appear in an Alzheimer's patient.
We currently have a final draft of our manuscript regarding neurodegeneration ready to submit to an academic journal, and the neuropsychiatric symptoms paper is still in the drafting stages. Whenever these articles are published in peer reviewed journals, I will post the links here.
Spanish Writing Ability: Internship at Fundación TASE Alzheimer's Center in Quito, Ecuador, Summer, 2015
In the summer of 2015, I completed a 5 week internship at the Fundación TASE Alzheimer's Center in Quito, Ecuador. As part of the internship program, I was required to write a paper in Spanish at the end of the experience that summarized my time and work at the center. The following paper explains my time at the center and demonstrates my professional fluency in Spanish:
nPaper ©2015, Joshua Fuller. May not be used without permission/credit.
Spanish Writing: Paper on the Epidemic of Mental Illnesses in Latin America: La Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, Summer, 2015
In the summer of 2015 prior to my internship at the Fundación TASE Alzheimer's Center in Quito, Ecuador I was enrolled in two classes at La Universidad de San Francisco de Quito. As a term-long assignment in my Spanish Culture and Civilization, I and my classmates were charged with writing a research paper about a topic of our choice relating to the people of Latin America. Due to my interest in mental healthcare, I decided to write about the various mental healthcare discrepancies that exist in Latin America. The following paper explains my thesis and demonstrates my professional fluency in Spanish:
Paper ©2015, Joshua Fuller. May not be used without permission/credit.
Psychology of Adjustment (PYSCH 305) Honors Course Contract, Fall of 2014
In the fall of 2014, I completed a research project for an honors course contract for my Psychology of Adjustment class with Dr. Brigit Van Widenfelt. Dr. Van Widenfelt's primary research and clinical interests are in understanding the social emotional development of youth in the family context and on clinical interventions with parents and couples. As such, my research paper and presentation for this course contract centered around three main topics: 1) the impact Family of Origin has on the formation of communication and conflict resolution skills used in adult romantic relationships, 2) analysis of the bi-directional phenomenon between current psychopathology and relationship discord, and 3) a review of Self-Adjustment and Self-Help strategies for improving relationship quality by addressing dysfunctional relationship patterns and increasing positive communication and conflict resolution strategies. The paper and short Powerpoint presentation I constructed are below:
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Research paper and presentation ©2014, Joshua Fuller. May not be used without permission/credit.
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Upper-Level Cornerstone Class, Fall of 2014
In the fall of 2014, I participated Dr. Curtis' Cornerstone program for upper-level students. This class was centered around the following theme: "America: Where do we go from here?" The class consisted entirely of lectures created and given by the students in the class, with each student presenting for one 75 minute class period. Presentations ranged from social issues (e.g. poverty in America) to issues of foreign and national affairs.
My presentation is entitled "The Divorce Crisis in America: the Impact on the Socioeconomic and Political Health of Our Nation." This presentation is aimed at examining the culture and issues of divorce in America and how divorce psychologically impacts children. The implication that I intend for my audience to discover is that the psychological impact of divorce on children will have profound impacts on our nation and society as a whole, especially as divorce becomes far more prevalent statistically. This presentation examined some of the existing literature and statistics on divorce in America and the psychological impact on children.
Research Presentation ©2014, Joshua Fuller. May not be used without permission/credit.
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Cornerstone Program, 2013-2014
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The conclusions drawn by my research into this topic were fascinating and showed that the misinformation within historical texts (specifically) does have a dramatic impact on how readers may not only view the past, but also the present. It is clear that the way information is portrayed in historical texts can influence perception and opinion because many people, especially students, treat historical texts as being completely accurate. Historians need to be careful when documenting events that they portray accurately what occurred and they need to avoid giving readers misinformation.
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