Abstracts for the MAA Undergraduate Poster Session San Diego, CA January 12, 2018 Organized by Eric Ruggieri College of the Holy Cross and Chasen Smith Georgia Southern University Dear Students, Advisors, Judges and Colleagues, If you look around today you will see over 400 posters (a record number!) and more than 650 student pre- senters, representing a wide array of mathematical topics and ideas. These posters showcase the vibrant research being conducted as part of summer programs and during the academic year at colleges and univer- sities from across the United States and beyond. It is so rewarding to see this session, which offers such a great opportunity for interaction between students and professional mathematicians, continue to grow. The judges you see here today are professional mathematicians from institutions around the world. They are advisors, colleagues, new Ph.D.s, and administrators. Many of the judges are acknowledged here in this booklet; however, a number of judges here today volunteered on site. Their support is vital to the success of the session and we thank them. We are supported financially by the National Science Foundation, Tudor Investments, and Two Sigma. We are also helped by the members of the Committee on Undergraduate Student Activities and Chapters (CUSAC) in some way or other. They are: Dora C. Ahmadi; Benjamin Galluzzo; TJ Hitchman; Cynthia Huffman; Aihua Li; Sara Louise Malec; May Mei; Stacy Ann Muir; Andy Niedermaier; Peri Shereen; An- gela Spalsbury; Violetta Vasilevska; Gerard A. Venema; and Jim Walsh. There are many details of the poster session that begin with putting out the advertisement in FOCUS, ensuring students have travel money, mak- ing sure the online submission system works properly, and organizing poster boards and tables in the room we are in today that are attributed to Gerard Venema (MAA Associate Secretary), Kenyatta Malloy (MAA), and Donna Salter (AMS). Our online submission system and technical support is key to managing the ever-growing number of poster entries we receive. Thanks to MAA staff, especially Kenyatta Malloy, for her work setting up and managing the system this year. Preparation of the abstract book is a time-consuming task. Thanks to Beverly Ruedi for doing the final production work on the abstract book. We would also like to thank James P. Solazzo (Coastal Carolina University), Peri Shereen (California State University Monterey Bay), Aihua Li (Montclair State University), and Dora Ahmadi (Moorehead State University) for organizing an orientation for the judges and authoring the judging form. Thanks to all the students, judges, volunteers, and sponsors. We hope you have a wonderful experience at this years poster session! Eric Ruggieri College of the Holy Cross Chasen Smith Georgia Southern University 2 Organized by the MAA Committee on Undergraduate Student Activities and Chapters and CUPM Subcommittee on Research by Undergraduates The MAA gratefully acknowledges the support of Tudor Investment Corporation and Two Sigma. Their generosity on behalf of the 2018 Undergraduate Student Poster Session enables students to interact with peers and role models in the mathematical sciences during the largest mathematics meeting in the world. Support for the student travel grant is provided by the National Science Foundation (grant DMS-1341843). Judges and Judge Affiliations 1. Aida Abiad, Maastricht University, The Netherlands 2. Bahar Acu, Northwestern University 3. Sungwon Ahn, Roosevelt University 4. Simi Ahsani, Auburn University 5. Gordon Aiello, The University of Iowa 6. Adelaide Akers, Emporia State University 7. Mohamed Allali, Chapman University 8. Ziyad AlSharawi, American University of Sharjah 9. Ibukun Amusan, Kentucky State University 10. Katie Anders, University of Texas at Tyler 11. Jacqueline Anderson, Bridgewater State University 12. Joseph Anderson, Salisbury University 13. Phillip Andreae, Meredith College 14. Lynn Apfel 15. Rene Ardila, Grand Valley State University 16. Allison Arnold-Roksandich, Oregon State University 17. Alessandro Arsie, The University of Toledo 18. John Asplund, Dalton State College 19. Eric Astor, University of Connecticut 20. Rachid Atmai, MiraCosta College 21. Holly Attenborough, University of Wisconsin-Platteville 22. Alexander Atwood, SUNY Suffolk County Community College 23. Jason Aubrey, University of Arizona 24. Chad Awtrey, Elon University 25. Marie-Andree B. Langlois, Dalhousie University 26. Liljana Babinkostova, Boise State University 27. Nick Backscheider, Auburn University 28. Nicholas Baeth, University of Central Missouri 29. Zachary Bailey, University of Delaware 30. Suman Balasubramanian, DePauw University 31. Clare Banks, Dixie State University 32. Brittany Bannish, University of Central Oklahoma 33. Valeria Barra, New Jersey Institute of Technology 34. Terry Barron, Georgia Gwinnett College 35. Sukanya Basu, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 36. Matthew Beauregard, Stephen F. Austin State University 37. Scott Beaver, Western Oregon University 38. Alfred Beebe, Salisbury University 39. Robert Bell, Michigan State University 40. Catherine Beneteau, University of South Florida 5 6 Judges and Judge Affiliations 41. Barb Bennie, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse 42. Steve Bennoun, Cornell University 43. Jenn Berg, Fitchberg State University 44. Heidi Berger, Simpson College 45. Charles Bergeron, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 46. Edgar Bering, Temple University 47. Edward Bertram, University of Hawaii at Manoa 48. Satish Bhatnagar, University of Nevada Las Vegas 49. Tracy Bibelnieks, University of Minnesota Duluth 50. Abigail Bishop, Iona College 51. Wade Bloomquist, UC Santa Barbara 52. Charlotte Bolch, University of Florida 53. Jessalyn Bolkema, University of Nebraska - Lincoln 54. William Bon Durant, R and B Software, LLC 55. Lynette Boos, Providence College 56. Debra Borkovitz, Wheelock College 57. Ryan Botts, Point Loma Nazarene University 58. Carol Branch, Art Exhibitor 59. David Bressoud, CBMS 60. Christopher Brown, California Lutheran University 61. Melanie Brown, Champlain College 62. Juliette Bruce, University of Wisconsin - Madison 63. Kurt Bryan, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 64. Timothee Bryan, University of Sioux Falls 65. Julian Buck, Francis Marion University 66. Kimberly Burch, Indiana University of Pennsylvania 67. Emily Burkhead, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill 68. Marcia Burrell 69. Frederick Butler, York College of Pennsylvania 70. Melanie Butler, Mt St Mary’s University 71. Steve Butler, Iowa State University 72. Cinthia Calvo Martinez, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 73. Kristin Camenga, Juniata College 74. Guher Camliyurt, University of Southern California 75. Eric Canning, Morningside College 76. Lei Cao, Georgian Court University 77. Alex Capaldi, Valparaiso University 78. Carmen Caprau, California State University, Fresno 79. Josh Carlson, Iowa State University 80. Jenna Carpenter, Campbell University 81. Carla Cederbaum, University of Tbingen, Germany Judges and Judge Affiliations 7 82. Tsz Chan, University of Memphis 83. Rachel Chaphalkar, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater 84. Kevin Charlwood, Washburn University 85. Laxmi Chataut, University of Wisconsin-Marinette 86. Vinodh Kumar Chellamuthu, Dixie State University 87. Zhixiong Chen, New Jersey City University 88. Sebastian Cioaba, University of Delaware 89. William Cipolli, Colgate University 90. Karen Clark, The College of New Jersey 91. Richard Cleary, Babson College 92. Paul Coe, Dominican University 93. Moshe Cohen, Vassar College 94. Benjamin V.C. Collins, University of Wisconsin-Platteville 95. Michael Colvin, Univ of Tennessee - Chattanooga 96. Randall Cone, Salisbury University 97. Rebecca Conley, Saint Peter’s University 98. Ivan Contreras, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 99. David Cook, Pensacola Christian College 100. Greg Coxson, U. S. Naval Academy 101. Michelle Craddock Guinn, Belmont University 102. Pam Crawford, Jacksonville University 103. Catherine Crockett, Point Loma Nazarene University 104. Cheryll Crowe, Asbury University 105. Michael Crumley, The University of Findlay 106. Daniel Curtin, Northern Kentucky University 107. Michael Dabkowski, Lawrence Technological University 108. Daniel Daly, Southeast Missouri State University 109. Lawrence D’Antonio, Ramapo College 110. Robert Davis, Michigan State University 111. Doreen De Leon, California State University, Fresno 112. Jessica De Silva, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 113. Louis Deaett, Quinnipiac University 114. Joyati Debnath, Winona State University 115. Colin Defant, Princeton University 116. Mark Demers, Fairfield University 117. Yesim Demiroglu, University of Rochester 118. Jonas Dere, KU Leuven Kulak 119. John Diamantopoulos, Northeastern State University 120. Alexander Diaz-Lopez, Villanova University 121. Andrew Diener, Christian Brothers University 122. Daniel Dobbs, Trine University 8 Judges and Judge Affiliations 123. Suzanne Doree, Augsburg University 124. Colleen Duffy, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire 125. Sarah Dumnich, Frostburg State University 126. Jacob Duncan, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame 127. Jill Dunham, Chapman University 128. Justin Dunmyre, Frostburg State University 129. Thomas Dunn, Fort Hays State University 130. Tom Edgar, Pacific Lutheran University 131. Richard Edwards, Michigan State University 132. Joseph Eichholz, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 133. Sarah Eichhorn, University of Texas at Austin 134. Houssein El Turkey, University of New Haven 135. Melissa Emory, University