William Burrus’ essay, “European Rail Nationalization and Income Inequality: An Empirical Analysis,” appears in the new volume of Lucerna available at https://honors.umkc.edu/get-involved/lucerna/

For more about William’s work, keep reading.

What is your Lucerna project about?

My Lucerna project is about the relationship between rail industry nationalization and income inequality in European Union member states.

Why are you interested in this topic?

I am interested in this topic because economic inequality is a significant problem in our society. I wanted to explore whether there is a relationship between government involvement and control in the economy and income inequality. I selected data from the European Union because its data were readily available and easily accessible.

What have been the benefits and challenges of this project?

The main benefit has been the experience of developing my econometrics project beyond what was required for my course. It also helped me to learn more about using a statistical software called R, which was also challenging because I needed to teach myself some programming on the fly.

What is your advice for students who are interested in publishing their work in Lucerna?

My advice is to not be shy in asking for advice from your professor for feedback regarding the writing and research process. They will be happy to help improve the quality of your work.

What are your professional plans or goals?

I plan to begin graduate school in economics or finance in France in Fall 2021.

Samantha N. Hays’ essay, “Failing the Fight: The Historical Context of US Environmental Conservation and How Endangered Species are Mismanaged in the Current Legislature,” appears in the new volume of Lucerna available at https://honors.umkc.edu/get-involved/lucerna/

For more about Samantha’s work, keep reading.

What is your Lucerna project about?

My project evaluates the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 and related national environmental standards by creating a historical timeline of large-scale protective measures to assess their impact on the species and systems they were created to protect. After almost fifty years of working under the ESA, can we honestly reflect on it and other legislative standards and say we have done our very best to conserve environmental diversity? How should we proceed?

Why are you interested in this topic?

I became interested in this topic after taking a conservation course with Dr. Aaron Reed in the School of Biological Sciences. While earning my Bachelor of Science in Biology, I often had to memorize internal environmental and physiological systems and processes, but I never much reflected on how outside systems like American politics play a pivotal role in the modern conservation movement. This class really opened my eyes, and I recommend it highly to others.

What have been the benefits and challenges of this project?

This was a very lengthy undertaking. I did not know when I began this project that the style of reporting under the ESA by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service is very much based on “good-faith,” and therefore numerical tracking (especially of funds) is confusing at best. Additionally, combing through decades of expenditures and population tracking documents was very difficult when reporting measures can often be revised annually, making them hard to compare to one another. The benefit of this project is that at the very least, it aims to start a conversation. The public needs to be more aware of and invested in the legislation that protects lands and neighboring species.

What is your advice for students who are interested in publishing their work in Lucerna?

You have nothing to lose by trying. The team of editors and staff that assists in the publication process for Lucerna is composed of incredibly gifted and supportive folks. They are amazing to work with and have nothing but passion for the process. You will be delighted to work with them as you prepare your project for publication.

What are your professional plans or goals?

After finishing my Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Minor in Chemistry, I enrolled in the Master of Social Work program at UMKC in Fall 2020. I have one more year in that program, and then I hope to attend medical school following my graduation. I am really grateful for the opportunity to explore this topic through my Honors College thesis and publication in Lucerna, as it fits so well within my scope of study, but without the inspiration I am not sure I would have become so invested in the subject of environmental legislature and policy reform. It really impacts us as individuals on all levels.

Kylie Brous’ essay, “The Mystery of Negative and Imaginary Logarithms,” appears in the new volume of Lucerna available at https://honors.umkc.edu/get-involved/lucerna/

For more about Kylie’s work, keep reading.

What is your Lucerna project about?

My project is an explanation of eighteenth-century mathematician Leonhard Euler’s examination of Johann (Jean) Bernoulli and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s letters to one another about the existence, or thereof, of negative and imaginary logarithms. I took Euler’s original work, translated from Latin to English by Todd Doucet, and explained it using modern math.

Why are you interested in this topic?

I find logarithms interesting, and in math classes, one is always told, “You cannot take the logarithm of negative number.” The surface level reason made sense, but I always wondered about the deeper reason.

What have been the benefits and challenges of this project?

The benefit of this project was it made me both a better mathematician and allowed me to satisfy my curiosity. Having to explain eighteenth-century math in modern terms made me figure out information that I would not have had to do otherwise. This project also let me explore the why as to why negative and imaginary logarithms do not exist or the possibility that they do exist. The two main challenges were getting stuck constantly and then having to figure it out only to be told that I did it wrong and the sheer amount of work that this entailed. This paper is not one that I could do two days before it was due; I had to start five weeks in advance and keep doing little-by-little to produce a high quality paper.

What is your advice for students who are interested in publishing their work in Lucerna?

My advice would be to work closely with your professor. They can make sure that not only is your paper factually correct, but that it is robust enough for Lucerna. Also, do not get discouraged when your professor crosses out a whole page of work. That work still taught you valuable information that you may be able to use elsewhere; failure is part of the process. Finally, make sure that you are interested in your topic since you will spend more hours than you will want writing and editing the paper.

What are your professional plans or goals?

My plan is to be a high school math teacher who teaches courses at or above the algebra 2 level. I plan on either getting my master’s degree in math immediately after I graduate and then teach high school or go right into teaching and get my master’s degree in education later.

Sophie will present her research on panhandling in Kansas City at the Lucerna Symposium on March 11. For more about Sophie’s work, keep reading.

What is your Lucerna project about?

My Lucerna project is about panhandling in Kansas City, specifically on the Country Club Plaza. I examine laws restricting panhandling as well as the attitudes of Kansas City residents towards folks who panhandle.

Why are you interested in this topic?

I grew up in Kansas City and have been visiting the Plaza since I was a little girl. I have also seen firsthand the negative attitudes some people have towards panhandlers, and it has always rubbed me the wrong way.

What have been the benefits and challenges of this project?

One challenge of this project was examining local ordinances regarding panhandling and the constitutionality of them, which was difficult considering I don’t have a law background. It was also very important to me to be as accurate as possible, so I worked hard to make sure my arguments could be supported. I wrote this essay two years ago when I was a sophomore, so over the summer and winter of 2020 before I submitted my final draft, I had to make sure my information was still current. I tried to figure out what happened with new ordinances that were on the table when I originally wrote the essay, which can be hard to do with local legislation.

What is your advice for students who are interested in publishing their work in Lucerna?

I would say read the previous volumes of Lucerna to get an idea of what sort of essays get published. When I was a freshman, I thought it would be so cool to be published in Lucerna, but I didn’t feel like I had anything to contribute. Through my regular coursework I ended up writing two essays that I submitted and were published in Lucerna. I never would have known to submit them had I not been encouraged to do so by my professor.

What are your professional plans or goals?

I graduated last December, and I am working full-time at an inpatient mental health facility. I am also in the process of applying to graduate programs for counseling psychology. I would like to continue to work in the mental health field, and eventually earn a Ph.D. and perhaps teach at a university