Undergraduate Research Day 2020

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/20158

With students involved in so many research opportunities, Undergraduate Research Day provides the perfect opportunity for them to share their work with the campus community. Held each April, Undergraduate Research Day showcases current research, scholarship, and artistic endeavors.

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COMPARISON OF RIBOSWITCH REPORTER SYSTEMS FOR LIVE CELL IMAGING OF CYCLIC-DI-GMP DYNAMICS IN BACILLUS SUBTILIS POPULATIONS
(2019) Pierre, Yasmine; Spirito, Catherine
Fluorescent riboswitch reporters can be used in vivo to monitor metabolite dynamics. Previous work used a fluorescent yfp reporter based on a cyclic di-GMP responsive riboswitch from Bacillus licheniformis to monitor cyclic di-GMP levels in individual Bacillus subtilis cells. The previous study found that cell fates in Bacillus subtilis are not uniform in the presence of varying cyclic di-GMP levels. It is important to further develop tools that enable single-cell imaging in Gram-positive bacteria. Fluorogenic aptamers are single-stranded RNA molecules that have been evolved via in vitro selection to bind strongly and specifically to fluorophore molecules and emit a fluorescent signal. These fluorogenic aptamers can be used instead of fluorescent proteins in riboswitch reporter systems to provide a more dynamic read-out of metabolite dynamics in cells. However, relatively little work has been done to evaluate the use of these fluorogenic aptamers as reporter systems in Gram-positive bacteria. The objective of this project is to evaluate the use of four different fluorogenic aptamers (Mango-III, Broccoli, dimeric Broccoli, and SpinachII) instead of yfp in a cyclic di-GMP responsive riboswitch reporter system in Bacillus subtilis. All plasmids containing the riboswitch reporters were constructed and successfully transformed into E. coli cells. Subsequently, the cyclic di-GMP responsive riboswitch reporter systems were successfully transformed into B. subtilis WT PY79 and a 𝝙pdeH mutant. Future work involves evaluating their performance in vivo in B. subtilis via laser confocal and fluorescence microscopy.
Dual effect of structure and hydration on magnesium-ion insertion into electrodeposited V2O5 thin films
(2019-10) Johnston, Brandon; Henry, Hakeem; Sahadeo, Emily; Liau, Darrin; Lee, Sang Bok; Lee, Sang Bok
As global energy needs continue to increase, there is a growing demand for next-generation storage technologies that confer high energy density. Lithium-ion battery technologies, the current state of the art, possess a number of limitations that prevent further performance enhancement and safe use. Owing to magnesium's abundance, safety, and high volumetric capacity; magnesium-ion batteries are promising alternatives to lithium-ion storage devices. However, a number of challenges have impeded progress in magnesium-ion battery research, such as magnesium anode passivation and poor magnesium-ion insertion kinetics into traditional metal oxide cathode materials. This research addresses the latter of the two problems by further investigating a well-known potential cathode material for magnesium-ion batteries. Vanadium (V) Oxide, a transition metal oxide with flexible interlayer spacing, has been shown to reversibly intercalate Mg2+ ions with high capacity in its crystalline form. However, new research suggests that amorphous V2O5 cathodes might offer greater capacity for Mg-ion insertion owing to increased void space for monovalent and multivalent ion insertion. In this work, we use two primary electroanalytical techniques--cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic voltammetry--to systematically investigate the impact of structure, crystallinity, and hydration on the electrochemical performance of electrodeposited V2O5 thin films. Ultimately, our findings suggest that it is structural hydration, rather than film crystallinity, that primarily determines Mg-ion insertion capacity of V2O5 thin films.
Prelinguistic Understanding of Collective & Distributive Events
(2020) Deshpande, Stuti; Lidz, Jeffrey; Knowlton, Tyler
English Universal Quantifiers, like 'each' and 'all', describe events where all actors engage in an action. However, they differ in usage. 'Each' can only describe distributive (individual) actions, whereas 'all' can also describe collective actions. This research seeks to determine if infants can distinguish between collective and distributive events before acquiring language. We showed infants non-linguistic videos of animated chevrons chasing balls either collectively or distributively. We looked to see if infants noticed a difference between the videos. Current results suggest that infants can distinguish between these events, but further work is needed.
Human Rights for Sale? A Study on the Uyghur Issue and Chinese Concessional Aid
(GVPT Research Assistantship Program Symposium, 2020) Yinusa, Joseph; Kastner, Scott
The Uyghur issue refers to the ongoing internment by the People’s Republic of China’s government on their native Uyghur ethnic group, who primarily reside in the Xinjiang Province. Such activities are internationally considered an attack on human rights; however, many countries have defended the PRC actions on this subject, some of which receive heavy amounts of aid from the Asian country. The current paper creates a model to determine the likelihood for countries to support China’s actions in Xinjiang. The paper finds that while there is a strong relationship between receipt of aid and predictability for defending or criticizing the PRC’s internment activities, it appears that regime type is a more adept, more evident predictor.
The Effects of Prediction and Speech Rate on Lexical Processing
(2020) Cole, Alissa; Slevc, Robert
How are we so good at quickly and accurately comprehending speech? Researchers have suggested that we not only process language as we hear it, but also predict what we are likely to hear next (e.g., if you heard "The researcher built a time machine to travel into the.." you might be expecting "future"), which helps our comprehension. What is not yet clear is the necessity of prediction accuracy (e.g., what if you predicted "past" instead of “future”?) or the cognitive processes that underlie this prediction process. The goal of this project was to investigate the effect of lexical prediction on language processing, and how this effect varies with speech rate and individual cognitive abilities. In an active prediction paradigm, participants heard two-sentence passages at fast, medium, or slow rates while predicting the final word of the passage. Instead of hearing a final word, participants were instructed to read a word aloud as quickly as possible, then indicate if this was the word they predicted. The word had about a 50% chance of matching the participant's prediction. Results show that both correct and incorrect prediction facilitated reading time, suggesting that prediction facilitates language processing regardless of prediction accuracy. Additionally, slower speech rate resulted in slower response time across conditions, indicating that language processing may slow to match speech rate. Response times were related to general processing speed, but the effects of prediction accuracy and speech rate were not related to measures of either processing speed or working memory. In all, these results support the hypothesis that active prediction decreases language processing time, which may also be affected by speech rate and general processing speed.
Children's Evaluations of Helpful and Unhelpful Individuals
(2020) Forman, Sydney; Woodward, Amanda; Beier, Jonathan; Beier, Jonathan
Humans are cooperative and often help one another. Although we know that young children are helpful, there is much to understand about children’s evaluations of others who do and do not help. Prior work examined evaluations during middle childhood of helpers and non-helpers in India and the US in different settings (Miller, Bersoff, & Harwood, 1990). American children’s evaluations centered on their relationships with the needy person (e.g. friend or family member) and how severe the person’s need was. These differences in evaluations raise questions of how children’s views of helpful and unhelpful interactions arise, earlier development. The current studies examine 3- to 6-year-old children’s interpretations and evaluations of helpful and unhelpful people. Experiment 1 (N=95 of planned 96) investigated children’s evaluations of people who help versus neutral people and their views of helpful versus unhelpful interactions. Children watched two sets of videos. First, children watched a video of a helper giving tape to someone hanging a poster and a video of a neutral character with another girl. When asked to evaluate the helpful versus neutral characters, children rated the helper more positively (59 of 95, p = 0.01). Then, children watched videos of helpful and not helpful interactions. Overall, children viewed helpful action as more acceptable than unhelpful actions (X^2(1) = 85.01, p < 0.01). Experiment 2 (N=61 of planned 96) expanded this work by examining children’s evaluations of characters who do not help. Preliminary analyses will be presented in the poster.
Predicting facial movement using electromyography and machine learning
(2020) Choi, Theresa; Brustad, Abby; Morales, Santiago; Fox, Nathan
Video coding participants’ behavior is inherently a subjective and time-consuming process. The purpose of this study is to support traditional video coding methods of facial expressions by using machine learning on available electromyographic (EMG) data. For this, we tested the accuracy across four machine learning algorithms (i.e., decision tree, K-nearest neighbors (KNN), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and linear support vector classifier (SVC)). Specifically, we tested their accuracy in distinguishing between (a) any facial activity versus no movement, and (b) different facial expressions (Fearful, Happy, Neutral). Success was measured by final accuracy on a pre-chosen test set. Results showed that the decision tree and KNN classifiers had the highest potential for detecting facial activity with a test accuracy of 94%. However, after plotting their decision boundaries, both had a risk of overfitting, suggesting that the best classifier could instead be a safer choice of the MLP or SVC algorithms with 84% accuracy. For classifying different facial expressions, the MLP algorithm had the highest accuracy with 88% accuracy. Overall, the conclusion is that with further development, machine learning models could simplify the video coding process. While there were some models with very high accuracies (above 90%), they tended to risk overfitting and not generalize to larger datasets. Thus, the best use of these models would be in tandem with other coding methods, such as by quickly verifying low-accuracy classifications via video coding or by outputting cutoff parameters that can be used to facilitate other analyses.
The Role of Lipid Metabolism in B Cell Immune Functions
(2020) Beher, Richa; Song, Wenxia
Evidence indicates that lipid accumulation due to obesity triggers a low-grade, chronic inflammation, which is correlated with the occurrence of Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recent studies provide evidence for the essential role that B cells play in obesity-induced inflammation and the development of insulin resistance. In visceral adipose tissue (VAT), B cells generate self-reactive antibodies (autoantibodies), which increase their pathogenicity. They also activate the production of cytokines by T cells through antigen presentation. Lastly, B cells themselves increase the production of inflammatory cytokines while decreasing the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. We hypothesize that neutral lipid accumulation exclusively in B cells will cause them to infiltrate VAT, trigger autoantibody production, and develop an autoimmune pathology. Preliminary research has led to the generation of a B cell-specific CGI-58 knockout (BKO) mice model in order to induce neutral lipid accumulation in B cells. It was found that increased accumulation of triglycerides in CGI-58 BKO mice significantly increased the levels of spontaneous activation in B cells, shown by the increases in the number of germinal center B cells, the surface expression levels of B cell activation markers, and the number of infiltrated lymphocytes in VAT, compared to Flox controls. The goal of this project is to determine the mechanism by which B cell lipid metabolism regulates B cell activation and pathogenicity in obesity-associated insulin resistance.
Do preschoolers track and evaluate social includers and excluders?
(2020) Knoll, Sarah; Woodward, Amanda Mae; Beier, Jonathan
Exclusion leads to negative effects across the social and cognitive domains (Wesselman & Williams, 2013). Because the consequences of social exclusion can be severe, social psychologists have characterized social-cognitive mechanisms for detecting exclusion and motivating responses to mitigate its effects. Although both adults and children respond to exclusion in ways that facilitate social connection, it is unclear whether two components of a system for detecting and responding to social exclusion, tracking and evaluating a prior excluder, are present in early childhood. The current research investigates whether 4- to 6-year-old children track and evaluate social excluders. Children in both experiments played in inclusive and exclusive ball-toss games. Children then reported explicit social evaluations comparing players from each game by answering who was meaner, a better sharer, or a better play partner for a third party. In Experiment 1, four-year-olds (N=32) had mixed evaluations of the players. An exploratory analysis revealed that children who indicated that the includer was a better sharer (n= 19 of 32) viewed the excluder as meaner (18 of 19, p < .001). In Experiment 2, 96 children, ages 4 to 6 years old, participated in a similar procedure to Experiment 1—now including an explicit memory check question. Children who passed the memory check (n = 68) evaluated includers more positively (44 of 68, p = .02) excluders more negatively (46 of 68, p = .004) and recommended that a new puppet play with the includer (49 of 68, p = .003). These effects were primarily driven by younger children, as 6-year-olds did not evaluate excluders negatively. Future work should determine if children younger than 4 years old can track and detect social exclusion.
Novel Bacterial Sialidase Mutants for Site Specific Sialylation of Biologically Important Glycoproteins
(2020) Liang, Tianyuzhou; Li, Chao; Dai, Yuanwei; Wang, Lai-Xi
Sialylation is a unique modification of glycans existing in different glycoproteins on cell surfaces, which significantly modulates many important physiological and pathological processes, such as anti-inflammatory and tumor metastasis. Despite tremendous efforts on the synthesis of this crucial glycan decoration using chemical and enzymatic methods, site-specific attachment of sialic acid moieties onto biologically important glycopeptides or glycoproteins is still challenging. In the last two decades, converting glycosidases into their transfer mutants has become a fascinating approach in the synthesis of glycoconjugates. In this work, a bacterial α2,6-sialidase (MvNA) from Micromonospora viridifaciens was selected as candidate for efficient transfer of sialic acid in a regio- and stereo-controlled manner due to its inherent trans-sialylation activity. First, wild-type MvNA was cloned and overexpressed in E. coli. Two types of sialidase mutants with mutation site at the nucleophile (Y370) and the general acid/base (D92) residues were then created by site-directed mutagenesis and successfully expressed. In the preliminary activity tests, the wild-type MvNA showed strong hydrolytic activity towards a natural sialylated complex-type N-glycopeptide, while terminal sialic acids from the same glycopeptide can’t be removed by created MvNA mutants, including Y370A, Y370G and D92A. The potential trans-sialylation activities of those sialidase mutants will be systematically tested using various synthetic activated substrate donors, such as sialyl fluorides and nitrophenyl sialosides. We are also aiming to create sialidase mutants derived from other types of sialidases with distinct specificities, e.g. α2,3 and α2,8-linkages. The potential sialidase transfer mutants could provide a new avenue to access the structurally well-defined sialylated glycopeptides and glycoproteins for sialylation bio-function study and therapeutic applications.
Relations between Memory Measures and Hippocampal Volumes in Early Childhood
(2020) Fine, Carli; Riggins, Tracy
The phenomenon of childhood amnesia, in which only a mere fraction of childhood experiences is remembered, may be due to changes in underlying neural mechanisms supporting memory (Willoughby et al., 2012; Bauer, 2007). However, it is unknown whether lab tasks used to measure childhood memory skills map onto everyday life experiences. This study aims to address that gap through an investigation of two different measures completed by 200 4- to 8-year-old children. One task is a rich open-ended autobiographical interview examining recall for real-world events; the other is a controlled laboratory-based assessment examining memory for temporal order using a series of child-appropriate pictures. This study asks whether both tasks show relations to 1) age group, 2) underlying neural mechanisms, and 3) performance as compared to each other. The hippocampus is a likely candidate underlying behavioral changes during early childhood because it undergoes significant development during this time (Gogtay et al., 2006; Lavenex & Lavenex, 2013) and supports memory in school-aged children and adults (Ghetti & Bunge, 2012). Autobiographical memories were scored using a modified interview coding scheme based on Levine et al. (2002). Temporal order was scored as proportion of adjacent pictures correctly ordered across two 9-item sequences. Hippocampal subregions were delineated using manually identified anatomical landmarks (Riggins et al., 2018). Preliminary results indicate age-related performance differences and hippocampal volume correlations. This work contributes to knowledge about the extent to which naturalistic versus lab-based tasks similarly measure memory abilities.
The Effects of Discrimination on Black Mothers’ Internalizing Symptoms and Parenting Behavior
(2020) Williams, Amber; Dunbar, Angel
Evidence supports that discrimination has an impact on maternal mental health, and that depression can lead to poor parenting practices, but how might these variables relate for Black mothers? I hypothesize that: Black mothers’ experiences with discrimination will be positively correlated to depressive and anxiety symptoms; depressive symptoms would be positively correlated with punitive and minimizing responses; anxiety symptoms would be positively related to punitive and minimizing responses; and, discrimination will be positively correlated to punitive and minimizing responses to children’s emotions. I conducted a secondary data analysis using data from the School Transitions and Academic Readiness Project (STAR) at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (N=277). Participants (n=86) included Black mothers and their 4-6 year old children, and measures assessed discrimination, depression, anxiety, and emotional socialization in relation to punitive and minimizing parenting practices. Results revealed a trend association between mothers' reported racial discrimination and their depressive symptoms, r = .18, p < .10, and a significant positive correlation between reported discrimination and anxiety symptoms, r = .22, p < .05. There was a significant positive correlation between mothers’ depressive symptoms and punitive responses, r = .43, p < .05, as well as between mothers’ depressive symptoms and minimizing responses, r = .34, p < .05. There was a significant positive correlation between mothers’ anxiety symptoms and punitive responses, r = .31, p < .05, and a significant positive correlation between anxiety symptoms and minimizing responses, r = .24, p < .05. There was no correlation between discrimination and parenting for either punishing or minimizing responses. These results are necessary to consider when assessing Black families, given that the negative impacts on maternal mental health can lead to decreased academic performance and peer acceptance for children. Future directions should assess the effect of discrimination on parenting responses as mediated by depressive or anxiety symptoms.
Effects of High Carbohydrate Supplementation on Hepatic Mitochondrial Metabolism
(2020) Zhang, Christine; Sunny, Nishanth
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major public health issue affecting over 75 million patients and over 70% of patients that suffer from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and obesity. Previous research has demonstrated that progression of NAFLD is accompanied by liver mitochondria adaptation and eventual dysfunction as they fail to respond to the influx of free fatty acids and the metabolic actions of insulin. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of high carbohydrate supplementation on mitochondrial metabolism, specifically the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, of hepatocytes utilizing a metabolomics centered approach. Data obtained through gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) suggest that LF and HC fed animals exhibit higher mitochondrial (TCA) activity compared to their HF counterparts. Short-term increased mitochondrial activity suggests an increased robust metabolic response, however, long-term effects may be detrimental to metabolic flexibility through increased production of reactive oxygen species. While the comprehensive effects of high carbohydrate supplementation on metabolism are still under investigation, these results suggest that diets high in carbohydrates may lead to exacerbation of mitochondria, and ultimately metabolic dysfunction.
Encapsulation of Candida albicans in Alginate Polymer
(2020) Okunrinboye, Funke; Karlsson, Amy
Candida albicans is a commensal opportunistic fungal pathogen. It is a polymorphic organism that exists in pseudo-hyphal, hyphal and yeast forms in human hosts. C. albicans causes superficial and systemic infections, including oral thrush, vaginal yeast infections, and systemic bloodstream infections. Systemic candidiasis can be deadly in immunocompromised patients such as transplant recipients and patients that have HIV, cancer, and diabetes mellitus. C. albicans infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates yearly. The characteristics of C. albicans associated with an ability to cause infections involve cell adhesion, dimorphism, phenotypic switching, thigmotropism, and biofilm formation. These characteristics aid in yeast dispersal, virulence and resistance to current antifungal therapies. Due to the toxicity of antifungal therapies to human host cells, the resistance of C. albicans to antifungal therapies, and Candida’s ability to escape the white blood cells, newer approaches to better study C. albicans are needed. Encapsulation of yeast cells will allow observation of cell signaling, growth patterns, and, ultimately, enable the development of better alternatives to prevent biofilm formation and C. albicans hyphal growth, thereby limiting virulence. Anionic alginate polymers were used to mimic human host cells for Candida encapsulation observation. and C. albicans strain SC5134 was embedded in the capsules. The cells grew predominantly in the yeast form at 35 °C but showed significant hyphal growth at 37 °C, in both liquid growth medium and in the alginate capsules. The results also show that C albicans can successfully be encapsulated and that growth can be observed in the capsules.
Analysis of animal use of "4-Poster", a commercial host-targeted tick control device
(2020) Pineda Hernandez, Estefany; Mullinax, Jennifer; Li, Andrew
In the mid-1800s there were 500,000 white-tailed deer. By 1992, the deer population rebounded to an estimated 18 million. The expanded deer population has facilitated black-legged tick expansion throughout the northeast of the United States which has resulted in an increased incidence of Lyme Disease. The main objective of the USDA-ARS Area-wide Tick Control Project is to manage deer and tick populations, as an effort to reduce the number of ticks, thus decreasing Lyme disease transmission potentials. The “4-Poster” is a host targeted tick control device used in USDA's Areawide Tick Control project in Howard County, Maryland. The device has a bait dispenser surrounded by paint rollers coated with permethrin- based “Tickicide” solution. While feeding, deer will brush against the rollers applying permethrin to their ears and neck. The objective of this project is to help evaluate the use of the "4-Poster" device by deer and non-target animals.
Do 4-year-olds employ island constraints during sentence processing?
(2020) Hochmuth, Gabriella; Hirzel, Mina; Lidz, Jeffrey
Previous research has proven that adults and children interpret and process filler-gap dependencies actively. However, in environments where a filler-gap dependency is impossible (like islands), adults no longer actively resolve filler-gap dependencies. By age 4, children have knowledge of relative clause island constraints. Does children's processing of wh-questions show knowledge of grammatical constraints? Do children use knowledge of islands to process sentences in real time? The goal of this poster is to design an experiment to test these questions.
Parasympathetic Nervous System Functioning in Adolescents with Anxiety
(2020) Modico, Maggie; Fox, Nathan; Zeytinoglu, Selin
Based on theoretical work on the role of autonomic dysregulation in the development of psychopathology, previous work has shown relations between respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and anxiety (Chalmers et al., 2016; Blom et al., 2010; Monk et al., 2001). RSA serves as an indicator of adaptability, where high levels of RSA reflect flexible and low levels of RSA demonstrate less flexible responding (Pitting et al., 2013). We hypothesized that participants with an anxiety disorder will have lower RSA at baseline and during social situations than those without anxiety. Participants (N=92) were 15-year-olds selected as part of a larger longitudinal study examining the role of infant temperament on adolescent mental health. 33 participants were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and 59 participants had no diagnosis. RSA was measured using electrocardiogram (EKG) during baseline, an unstructured social interaction task (Get to Know You, GTKY) and a stressful speech task. We derived RSA from the EKG. Independent t-tests were used. Those with an anxiety disorder (M= 6.44) compared to those with no clinical diagnosis (M= 7.08) demonstrated significantly lower baseline RSA, t =2.97, p=.004. Compared to those with no diagnosis, participants with an anxiety disorder showed lower RSA during GTKY and Speech, t =2.83, p=.006 and t = 2.62, p=.01, respectively. Our results showed that individuals diagnosed with anxiety have lower RSA across both baseline and social tasks than those without anxiety. The role of RSA in anxiety should be examined as it may serve as a biomarker used for treatment and intervention.
Bisexual Women’s Female Friendships: Predictors and Outcomes of Sexual Identity Disclosure
(2020) Parekh, Nina; Mohr, Jonathan
This study examined identity-based predictors of bisexual women’s sexual identity disclosure and outcomes of disclosure related to individual and interpersonal well-being. The study assessed hypotheses that Asian bisexual women would be less likely to disclose their sexual minority status to Asian friends and more likely to White friends, as well as less likely to monosexual friends. The study also identified that the act of sexual identity disclosure for all participants, regardless of race/ethnicity would experience stronger interpersonal wellbeing among the friends to which they have disclosed their sexual minority status. A sample of bisexual women completed measures focused on their demographic information, personal self-esteem, self-authenticity, satisfaction with life, and perceived social support, as well as their interpersonal level of outness, validation, trust, intimacy, and overall friendship.
Weakly-Mixing Systems with Dense Prime Orbits
(2020) Benda, Aaron; Kanigowski, Adam
We provide the first examples of smooth, weak mixing dynamical systems for which all points have dense orbits along primes.
Robotic Habitat Technologies for Minimizing Crew Maintenance Requirements
(2020) Broemmelsiek, Rachel; Calderwood, Micah; Callejon Hierro, Jaime; Cueva, Rachel; Harvey, Rachel; Holmes, Scott; Khawaja, Imran; Kleyman, William; Mnev, Peter; Orlando, Wilson; Queen, Jessica; Shenk-Evans, Micah; Skinner, Thomas; Akin, Dave; Bowden, Mary
NASA’s Lunar Gateway aims to be deployed later in the decade and will serve as an outpost orbiting the moon. This habitat will be utilized as a base for lunar operations as well as future missions to Mars. Unlike the International Space Station (ISS), which maintains three to six astronauts at any given time, the Lunar Gateway will be uncrewed for eleven months out of the year. Over 80% of crew time onboard the ISS is dedicated to logistics, repair, and maintenance, leaving minimal time for scientific research and experimentation. In order to maintain Gateway, robotic systems must be implemented to accomplish maintenance and operational tasks. This paper discusses our team’s proposed dexterous robotic system, which will address routine and contingency operational and maintenance tasks on Gateway. The project is experimentally-based, and split into three approaches: cataloging robotic capabilities via robot/taskboard interactions, logistics management of Cargo Transfer Bags (CTBs), and software development of an AprilTag situational development system. This research project utilizes the unique capabilities of the University of Maryland (UMD) Space Systems Laboratory (SSL), which houses various dexterous robotic manipulators, mock-ups of space habitats, and the Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility (NBRF), a 50-foot diameter, 25-foot deep water tank used to simulate microgravity conditions. By incorporating robotic systems into the architecture of the Lunar Gateway, it will allow for the lunar outpost to be continually operated and maintained while uncrewed, and will allow for astronauts, when present, to focus on maximizing scientific discoveries.