Current and Past Research by UW Students

Why Chinese Students Choose Engineering as a Field
I have witnessed the powerful affect of globalization with my own eyes. During August of 2004, I boarded an eighteen hour flight to China to return to the "third world" country that I was born in. Yet, as I stepped off the plane, I could hardly recognize China: the effect of globalization on China is tremendous. As Tom Thompson wrote in his article, "China is no longer that low-tech industry with inexpensive labor, Chinese are being taught first world skills, coming out with well-trained mathematically oriented engineer." According to the National Science Foundation, "In several emerging Asian countries, the proportion of first university degrees earned in Science & Engineering was higher than in the United States. For the past 3 decades, S&E degrees have made up about one-third of U.S. bachelor's degrees. The corresponding figures were considerably higher for China (59 percent in 2001)." During my research in China, I plan to study what motivates Chinese students to be engineers. I will be giving out a survey and trying to figure out if factors such as globalization with high potential for employment, parental, peer and/or influences from the government are one of the reasons why students go into engineering. My subjects will mainly be high school seniors, or students who are deciding which major to go into for post-secondary education, especially those students going into engineering in schools around the Sichuan Province. Kaitlyn Chen (2007-08)

Solar Energy Use in Sichuan
The objective of our research is to determine why or why not the local people in an urban, rural, and isolated rural area of China would switch from conventional energy to solar energy. Our ability to understand why some people would vouch for solar energy and why others may not is crucial to the progress of solar energy use in China. We will be looking at three areas; Panzhihua (urban), Manshuiwan (rural), and Yangjuan County (isolated rural). To establish a clear understanding of the popular opinion in these different areas, we will distribute questionnaires to the local people in each area. There are three sections of question, educational influence, environment influence, and cost concern influence. Each question will be given a weighted point based on the significance of the question in each section. We will then tally up the points in each section and use it to determine the main contributing factor for switching to solar energy in each area. Government statistics on cost, current usage, and development plans will be utilized to determine the current state of solar energy usage in these three regions. Tommy Lee and Huy Hong Ta (2007-08)

Water and Quality of Life in Baiwu Valley of Sichuan Province
Over the course of the next year I plan to work closely with the villagers of Yangjuan, a small village in the Baiwu valley of Sichuan Province, to see how the recent water projects put in place by the Hydrologists Without Borders have had an effect on the villagers' development and quality of life and also to see how well they are working. To do this study I will be looking at these projects through two different lenses to obtain a better understanding of the problems the villagers may be facing. The first lens I will be looking through will be that of a sociologist to see how these water projects have directly affected the villagers in terms of labor economics. To conduct my research I plan to interview families in Yangjuan to see how much time has been saved in the collection of water with the addition of these recent projects. If time is saved I will then look to see what the family is doing with this extra time. Are they spending it on projects that will increase their family's wealth? Are the kids now allowed to go to school when they were not able to before? Once I have gathered sufficient information I plan to look at the county level to see which villages have water projects and what their income is compared to those that do not. After all of my data has been collected and analyzed I hope to write a paper on the importance of water projects in developing regions and whether or not their immediate effects have made a difference. The second lens that I will be looking through when analyzing these water projects will be that of an engineer to see how well the projects are functioning and what modifications and/or new projects would be best for Yangjuan's development and improve the villagers' quality of life. When conducting my research I will mainly focus on water availability and water quality in the water projects and in the resources of the region itself. When gathering my data I will need to take monthly readings of water levels and water quality so that I may discern any possible trends. Once these possible trends have been established I plan to write a list of recommendations to the Hydrologists Without Borders so that when they come back they will have enough information to create the best possible water project for the people of Yangjuan. Geoff Morgan (2007-08)

Microfinance in Rural Sichuan
While in Chengdu, I will be studying microfinance in the Sichuan Province. My research question is actually very simple: Does microfinance within the Sichuan Province work? To research my question I will be looking at two different types of microfinance. This first kind that I will look at is microfinance from a big company's point of view. For my project I have chose to look more closely at the Bank of China and its branch of microfinance that it offers to the lower to middle class people in China. The second type of microfinance that I will be look at is a smaller, NGO based organization. I have looked at two organizations closely and I think that DORS and ARDPAS will be perfect case studies for looking at the smaller side of microfinance. On each side, both big and small, I will ask a series of questions such as: -Who is your typical customer? -What is the average size of the loan taken out? -Are loans repaid on time and in full? While asking my questions I hope to look at both the lenders and the borrowers to completely understand the microfinance process. With my information, I plan to compare and contrast my findings and hold them to some standards of success that will include: -Are the borrowers able to repay their loans on time and in full and still have profit left over from their investments that they used the loan for? -If not, is there education or financial advising services that can help people to become financially stable? After collecting my information, comparing and contrasting, and holding my findings to some standards of success, I hope to see whether or not microfinance in Chengdu is working or not. Hanna Hilsenberg (2007-08)

Effectiveness of land-reserve subsidies in and near Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve, Sichuan
The JiuZhaiGou National Nature Reserve is located in Sichuan Province, China. Essentially, my research project intends to take a look at two things within this park. Firstly, I want to examine each of the five valleys within and surrounding the JiuZhaiGou NNR, with attention to each valley's agricultural land use (subsistence farming and animal husbandry). I intend to use GIS data sets to describe the different stages of transition that each valley is in. Secondly, I intend to look at a specific subsidies project that was designed to support the villagers financially when the Chinese national government banned agricultural land use in one of the valleys. How successful was it in helping villagers transition from traditional means of subsistence to new ones? I intend to use an oral survey and collect GPS data that I will turn into GIS data sets. This research will allow me to answer these questions: Was this particular program successful? Can it be used elsewhere? David Johnsrud (2007-08)

Nutritional Changes in Urban and Rural Sichuan
Developing countries are at a point where the prevalence of obesity is greater than that of undernutrition and concerns related to intake of saturated fat and energy imbalance must be considered more seriously by the agriculture sector (Popkin, abstract). The most common thought when we think of developing countries is that it is in development, changing for the better. It is not often to find an over abundance of resources yet this quote really points out that though a developing country, in this case, China, it is flourishing or excelling beyond the minimal amount of nutrients that will support a whole country. China is looked up to as the country that is able to feed such a large population with limited land space. For instance, it is said that China feeds 1/5 of the earths population on about 7% of its farmland (Leppman p. 1). However, now China is witnessing an obesity issue. With this quote in mind, I will be focusing on the changes of nutrition throughout different locations within the Sichuan Province. Specifically, I will be comparing the changes in nutrition starting in the city of Chengdu, then in a village near Chengdu, and a village even farther such as Yangjuan. The purpose here is to see the types of nutritional changes that will be present as I move away from the city Chengdu. My hypothesis is as we move farther away from the city obesity will be less prevalent due to less nutritional sources such as protein that will be available and therefore the villages farthest away from the city will possibly run into the problem of malnutrition. To conduct this research I will employ a combination of a general survey known as the 24 hour recall food intake and also a case study from each transect starting from the city of Chengdu and then at each of the two transects away from the city. Dowdy Gilles (2007-08)

Properties of the D. peltata mechanoreceptor
The carnivorous plant Drosera peltata is unique in its ability to respond to tactile stimuli with movement. This ability suggests the existence of mechanoreceptors-- specialized ion channels that allow an organism to sense tension, pressure or movement in tissues of its periphery. In my proposed studies, I plan to further explore the properties of the D. peltata mechanoreceptor, using better characterized animal and Venus Fly Trap mechanoreceptors as analogues. The neurobiology of plants has been tragically under researched, studies like this one are important in contributing to the understanding of basic mechanisms organisms use in interacting with their environments. Katherine Liu (2007-08)

Gender and Adolescence among Nuosu Girls
In this study I aim to gain insight into the life of adolescent female residents of Yangjuan, an ethnic Nuosu village in rural Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Southwestern Sichuan Province, Peoples Republic of China. This study uses empirical analysis to demonstrate how current processes of globalization are transforming the actual conditions of young women's lives and gender ideologies. My intended methods embrace the diversity inherent in the social experience. A holistic understanding of contemporary Nuosu female gender identity will be achieved through informal interviews, direct observation, collective discussion, analysis of individuals' personal reflections, and collection of oral histories. This study explores adolescent females' identity as it relates to pre-existing gender hierarchies influenced by globalization and traditional ideologies in order to understand the contours of women's subordination. In part, this study is designed to examine patriarchal norms and practices inherent in globalization's effects on women's lives. Adolescent Nuosu females' perspectives of womanhood will be obtained to further analyze the role of power structures, both modern and traditional, Remember that the tradition power structure in Nuosu society is also very patriarchal. in their formation of identity. I approach this research with the aim of objective observation and understating with the belief that the lives of Nuosu females can serve as a window into the contemporary human experience. As there has been no prior investigation into this subject matter it is my hope that this effort will promote awareness toward informed discussion of Nuosu female identity issues both in and outside academia. Laura Stahl (2007-08)

(ICT) and China's Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination)
Within the framework of institutional economics this research will seek to identify and quantify a relationship between the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) by Chinese high school students and their performance on the Gaokao, a standardized national exam. For the course of this research I will define ICT specifically as networked computers with a degree of Internet access, and ICT usage as any activity involving networked computers. The outcome variable, the hypothesized dependent variable, is student scores on the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination). It is further hypothesized that ICT usage by Chinese students represents a statistically significant set of explanatory variables. ICT usage as a variable is divided into two stylized categories (formal and informal), each representing a vector of independent variables that capture the typical usage pattern of individual students. Formal ICT usage is defined as all activity using a networked computer that is initiated with the explicit purpose of advancing learning or to assist in completing an educational task: use of school computer labs, use of computers to assist in homework. Informal ICT usage can be defined as the converse to formalized ICT usage, all activity using network computers that students engage in without an explicit educational purpose or as assistance in completing an educational task: use of computers to chat with friends, use of computers for online gaming. Data points on the independent variables that comprise formal and informal ICT usage will be collected by student and teacher survey with ethnographic studies of a few high schools and Internet bars as case studies. All data will be analyzed using econometric methods, the ethnographic conclusions employed as inputs and controls, to form a matrix of ICT usage comprising each of the variables of informal and formal ICT usage and listing the power of each to explain variation of Gaokao scores. This research I believe will have very practical implications as it could serve to assist school administrators in targeting particular investments in ICT that could raise the Gaokao scores of students, vastly improving their educational opportunities. Daniel Stemp (2007-08)

Football and Identity in Chengdu
Throughout the world sports serve as a medium for the expression of different deeply engrained identities. This paper examines the role of viewing soccer in Chengdu. I argue that China's domestic professional leagues (the Superleague and Jia A) foster an increased sense of regionalism by placing cities and provinces in direct competition with one another, while viewing professional soccer causes an increased sense of Chinese nationalism. Regionalism has been a historically strong force in Sichuan and has compromised national unity multiple times throughout China's history. China's rapid but unequal growth has led to a divide between the eastern and western portions of the country, and domestic soccer games serve as an outlet to express the animosity created by this uneven growth. Unlike domestic professional games, European soccer is an entirely non-Chinese event but these games are popular among sports fans. The non-Chinese aspect of these games eliminates the direct competition between provinces that encourages regional tendencies and leads to a greater perceived communal identity between China's soccer followers. This study will focus on the members of the Chengdu Football Fan Association (CFFA). It relies on semi-structured interviews with members of the CFFA during Chengdu Blades matches and communal viewing events for European matches. The findings of this research project will improve our understanding of contemporary issues of regionalism and nationalism in China. Steve Margitan (2007-08)

A Cooperative Study of Yi Migrants in Chengdu
I propose to conduct a survey on what problems Yi migrants in major urban areas in and around Chengdu, China currently face. I will coordinate my work with a team of researchers who are already performing the same research. In order to ascertain the most common, severe, and preventable problems, and also in order to keep my methods as scientific as possible, I will primarily conduct interviews that mostly follow an organized survey format, and I will furthmore interview as many people as I can. Based on the answers, I will adjust, add, or remove questions depending on what type of information deserves the greatest amount of focus. As I acquire information, I will simultaneously compile said information into a presentable medium for presentation to related institutions for refining various government and social policies. Darren Stults (2007-08)

Buddhist Temple Architecture in China
The purpose of this project is to investigate the architecture, outlay, and design of Buddhist sites of worship in Sichuan Province. Further, it will attempt to collect an understanding of roles played by: traditional Chinese culture and architecture, requisite needs of worshiping space by practitioners and inhabitants, the lay community, and the impacts of tourism. the project's focus will primarily be non-Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist sites in mainstream Chinese culture, this limiting of the scope is done to try to filter out variations that could be due to ethnic heritage and differing sects of Buddhism, rather than the elements this project wishes to focus on. There is a severe lack of previous information on this topic from English language sources, giving this research an important role in expanding the western world's ability to understand the developments taking place in modern Chinese culture. Additionally, it will help to lay the groundwork for the deciphering of sites for tourist purposes, and for an improved understanding of what design elements have been successful in previous temples and how that is changing with time. The research necessary to achieve these goals will be threefold. First, there is the tracking down of existing and new sites, the collection of blueprint documentation (in cases of remodeled temples it is my hope to find records of both pre and post remodel layouts) and the research into any historical research done on the sites. Second, will be the visiting of all the sites to fill what will likely be a huge supply of gaps in data through first hand encounter. Lastly, I hope to speak with individuals responsible for the design and creation of temple and monastery sites, to ask them questions about the reasons why the sites were created in the way they were. Thomas Allen (2007-08)

Architectural Features of Chinese Daoist Temples
I will be visiting different Taoist temples to observe and record the different architectural aspects of the temples and shrines. I am also going to note any similar symbols throughout the temples such as the eight trigrams, and ask what they represent and why they are so important. I will also be interviewing the local priests or caretakers and asking them the significance of different rooms and how their temples are set up. I plan on looking at more modern, rebuilt, temples down to the less well known, rural, temples. The popular temples will be fairly easy to find, but I will have to ask knowledgeable people if they know where I can find the more rural ones. Since starting this project I have noticed that trying to find any amount of research solely on the architecture of the temples is rather difficult, thus, the significance of my project will be to provide actual information for future knowledge seekers, provide reference material for future restorations, and to provide information for tourist attractions. Brandi McAllister (2007-08)

Implications of Ethnic Tourism on Out-Migration
I am studying the implications of ethnic tourism on out-migration in the rural village of Yishala in Panzhihua, Sichuan Province.  I am looking at how potential changes in out-migration affect the residents of Yishala on the community, individual, and family levels.  I expect significant change on all three of these levels, and I plan to focus on two aspects that these changes might affect: 1) yearnings for modernity among the youth; 2) and the high number of bachelors in Yishala.  I am making a documentary to cover these topics. Ben Gersten (2006-07)

Air Quality Monitoring Project
In 2003, China became the second largest consumer of energy in the world, second to the United States.  Most of the energy consumed in China, approximately 70% comes from coal and as a result the countries air and overall environmental quality has suffered.  Many research articles have pointed to SO2, NOx, TSP and ozone as the major pollutants present in the Chinese atmosphere and have used measurements of these compounds’ concentrations and decomposition pathways to forecast China’s future air quality.  However, many papers have vastly under-estimated the growth of the Chinese economy, and thus energy consumption and associated air pollution.  Several of the authors also pointed to a lack of field data for rural regions of China as a source of possible inaccuracy, focusing their field measurements on Beijing and Shanghai and using computer and satellite imaging for other regions.  As a research project, I will monitor the air pollution at several places in Chengdu and the surrounding rural areas to determine the air quality and identify the main contributors to pollution in the area.  I will compare this data to relevant forecasts and trend data from the United States.  The combined data will be used to identify trends with more current data, address the rural impact to and from air pollution, and to examine ways to address the problem locally, nationally, and globally. 

I will monitor levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and particulate matter.  This can be done through sampling and analysis of air, water, and soil at each site.  Sampling soil and water can further exhibit the effects of harmful pollutants on the ecosystem, by seeing how it affects soil and water composition.  Common laboratory instruments, chemicals, and supplies can be used to carry out these tests, as well as some simple industrial air monitoring devices.  I am in the process of designing exact laboratory techniques and identifying the equipment I will need. Sarah Widder (2006-07)

Deaf Identity in Chinese Society
Communities of deaf and hard of hearing people are found in many parts of the world. In the United States, there is a large deaf/hard of hearing community that uses American Sign Language as their primary mode of communication. Members of this community often see themselves as part of a Deaf Culture; having their own language, stories, and traditions. While studying in Chengdu, I will conduct a research project focusing on the prevailing view of deafness in China, and how this is reflected in deaf education. With this as my research topic, I will be looking into deaf identity (how deaf children and adults view themselves and their place within society), language and culture. Laura DeVere (2006-07)

Coffee or Tea in Chengdu
My research is comparing the old Chinese tea culture and the new coffee era in China. The tea plant, originally used as a medicinal herb, possessed the ability to detoxify and reinvigorate those who used it.  Drinking tea was not only for the quenching of one's thirst, but became a pastime and a means of relaxation.  Tea also influenced and inspired poets, painters, and song writers back in old times to show close relationship between tea and Chinese aesthetics as developing into an almost spiritual experience.  People of all social classes, from the gentry elite to common people alike, enjoyed the pastime of tea drinking and liked to gather together at tea houses. Tea houses were also for people to enjoy entertainment, such as traditional opera and storytelling.  In the other hand, coffee houses in U.S are more like the place where people could socially bond mostly.  Some read while drinking coffee, some just listen to music and drink coffee to relax.  When I read about the relationship between the tea and the people in China, I was wondering how the coffee house would effect and emerge into well- bonded tea and people's relationship.  For example, Professor Harrell was talking about one book in the other day, about the different perspectives towards McDonald of four East Asia countries; Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan.  Each countries had different perspectives toward McDonald because of their own varieties of cultural barriers.  Different age group, gender, and the motivated reason to go to McDonalds were found in each countries.  The coffee in U.S is similar to the tea in China.  Both drinks help people by physically, mentally, and psychologically, except over doze would hurt, but just right amount of tea or coffee would be helpful to people.  I want to research how the coffee houses would settle in Chengdu , and how people in Chengdu would relate to coffee, like they relate to the Chinese tea. Sunhee Boo (2006-07)

Coffee, Tea and the Chinese
Plenty of studies have been done about the effect of Chinese tea on Western culture, but what about the effect of coffee, a mostly Western and Middle Eastern beverage, on contemporary urban Chinese culture?  Exactly how popular has coffee become in China in comparison to tea?  What types of people have been choosing coffee over tea?  On the other hand, what types of people now choose tea over coffee?  How and why did coffee become popular in the first place and what will Chinese culture and society do with it in the future?  Will it ever reach the same status as tea in Chinese culture, to the point where an American from Seattle, the coffee capital of the United States, could find a Starbucks on every street corner of Chengdu?  Exactly what do coffee and tea currently mean to the Chinese? Tabitha Hart (2006-07)

The Role of the Healer in Nuosu Society after the Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution undoubtedly impacted China and its people. Within the Han majority, the social experience between 1966 and 1976 had written itself into the human body and emerged as an illness. In addition to feelings of anger, anxiety, and sadness, victims also experienced neurasthenia – “a common syndrome of chronic pain, sleeplessness, fatigue, and dizziness.” The societal breakdown and delegitimation of the decade had manifested itself in physical symptoms. Symbolically representing bodily memory, biography, and social history, these symptoms became the vehicle through which the Han would recall their ordeal.

How did the Nuosu understand and cope with this era? Not only were they facing a period of oppression, but cultural and historical annihilation became a possibility. Restrictions and prohibitions did not allow the bimo to fulfill its social and religious functions, thus severing the mediated ties between the villagers and the supernaturals. Since ancestors, gods, spirits, and ghosts are understood to have significant roles in Nuosu culture, their daily lives were completely disrupted: there were no more peace making with the ancestors, no escorting of ancestors, no preventing of disasters, no expelling of ghosts, no treating of diseases, no asking for fertility, no guiding of souls, no praying for fortune, no divining, and so forth. What, then, was undertaken to substitute for this loss?

My thesis focuses particularly on the bimo’s role as a healer of illness in the Nuosu society and the impact on the concepts of health by the Cultural Revolution when the bimo was stripped of his position. Have the Nuosu, like the Han, manifested their social and cultural experience in an illness only seen after the years of reform? Deborah Sung (2006-07)

Reptile Identification in Yanjuan ad Jiuzhaigou
I will be performing a herpetology field survey around Yanjuan and Jiuzhaigou.    This will consist of 3 or 4 visits to the field over the course of the year and corresponding to different times in the amphibian and reptile lifecycle.    I intend to go into the countryside and set non lethal traps as well as actively capturing specimens by hand.   Also, I intend to enlist local school children to help collect specimens.   After the specimens are captured, they will be examined, photographed and documented.   Each specimen will be listed along with its size, location, time of discovery, and species.   If all of this information is readily apparent, the specimen will then be released back into the wild.      If the species can’t be readily identified, the specimen will be scrutinized so it can be fully described.   The goal of the project is to see what lives in these areas and hopefully find and describe something new. Matthew Reinert (2006-07)

Public Education and Government Funding in Rural and Urban Areas in Sichuan
I am looking at the state of education in Sichuan and whether it is correlated with the budgetary state of local governments. Within Sichuan, all levels of government are having difficulty raising the revenue to pay for public infrastructure. Any cutbacks on education funding, in efforts to mitigate government debt, could have huge consequences on the quality and availability of local schools, especially in rural areas. The questions I hope to answer are: Are education indicators correlated with the budgetary state of local governments? Are rural schools more dependent on the local government than those in urban areas? How are schools compensating for decreased funding?

My hypothesis is that local infrastructure and development are very dependent on the fiscal state of the government. I believe I will find that within poor rural areas there are less means of outside funding, and therefore decentralization and budget reforms have negatively impacted the local education infrastructure. In contrast, more urban and wealthy townships are able to mitigate decreasing government funding by finding outside sources of revenue. Therefore, the state of their infrastructure is less dependent on the budgetary state of the local government. (Dec 2005) Christina Chan (2005-06)

Changing Attitudes Toward Marriage in the Yi Culture
My research is about why the marriage attitudes towards Yi women are changing and the implications that follow. Many things are changing about the Yi community - better transportation and communication, better education, the development of urban Yi, and outside influences. I look at how each one influences the traditional outlook of marriage from the perspective of women. (Dec 2005) Sandley Chou (2005-06)

Price Differentials for Crops in Urban versus Rural Areas
I'm researching the differences in prices that farmers can get for their crops in areas close to urban areas, and those farther away. I'm conducting research at Mianzhu county north of Chengdu, Manshuiyuan north of Xichang, Shaba near Yanyuan, and Yangjuan. Seeing as China has one of the largest urban-rural income gaps in the world, and that Sichuan has a large gap between people in its basin areas and mountain areas, I believe researching the plight of farmers in Sichuan is very important. Louis Horn(2005-06)

Correlation of Childhood Asthma with Wood and Coal Burning in Chengdu, China
The purpose of my research is to investigate how traditional forms of heating and cooking, ie. wood and coal burning stoves, correlate with respiratory diseases in children, mainly in the form of asthma. This research will take place in Chengdu, Sichuan province of the Peoples Republic of China. In areas where the main fuel for cooking and heating is wood, coal, or other biomass, there will be higher instances of asthma in children, as the children, when at home, are likely to be around a stove that emits the particulates and pollution into the air.

Our hypothesis is that we will see higher instances of child asthma from children in households with less than adequate ventilations systems, and generally just from houses that utilize a wood/coal burning system vs. centralized gas or electric heating systems. The reason we are studying this relationship is because there is still not very much empirical information studying the correlation. Research has just started in the area, but more still needs to be done to properly confirm the relationship. (March 2006) Bharath Kumandan (2005-06)