William O'Brien First-Year Research Prizes

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“In my First-Year Seminar paper, “Is it Unethical for Law Enforcement Agencies to Engage with AI? I examined how law enforcement agencies are currently engaging with artificial intelligence and whether its use is ethical from a utilitarian standpoint. With AI improving rapidly and becoming commonplace in many of our institutions, including law enforcement, I felt it would be useful to explore the impact of its application from a philosophical perspective. I wanted to look at how AI is impacting people’s lives and try to decipher whether it is helping or hurting an already flawed criminal justice system. When narrowing the scope of my research, it was challenging to decide what types of artificial intelligence to include. I ended up choosing to focus on predictive policing and facial recognition because of their documented prevalence within law enforcement agencies. I concluded that the current application of AI within law enforcement is unethical from a utilitarian perspective, as it perpetuates bias, lacks transparency and consistency among different jurisdictions, is an invasion of privacy, and in some cases, can lead to the misidentification and conviction of innocent individuals."

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“In my FYS, we read a book called 'Molecules that Changed History'.  Each chapter was devoted to one molecule or a group of molecules, and wove a story of how their chemical properties had some kind of significant societal impact.  For our final research project, my professor asked us to write another chapter of the book, as it were, about another molecule that captured our interest.  One of the chapters in the book was about capsaicin, the molecule that makes your mouth feel hot when you eat spicy food, which got me thinking about a molecule with the opposite effect, menthol, which makes the cool sensation in your mouth when you eat a peppermint.  While much of our exposure to menthol is from consumption of candy, gum and toothpaste, I learned there's much more to menthol's story: it has a wide variety of biological properties (including antibacterial, anti-amnesic and anti-cancer properties) that scientists are only beginning to understand and has had a significant impact on public health as an addictive additive to cigarettes, disproportionately affecting our nation's youth and Black smokers."

“My research explored existential thought in the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. My FYS class was
“Moth to the Flame: Modern Satire & Dystopia” with Rebecca Jewell so I focused on Palahniuk’s use of
satirical techniques like exaggeration and irony. These are used to showcase existential thought to not
only critique the system we live under but to critique our response to its limitations, and thus provide us
with a solution explaining how to live meaningfully under it. Finding a topic for my paper was the hardest
step but the research process wasn't too difficult as I enjoyed studying philosophy and satire together.”

“In my First-Year Seminar, "Adirondack Arts and Archives," we explored the cultural, artistic, and historical heritage of the Adirondack region through artwork and literature. When developing my topic, I became particularly interested in the intersection of public health and environmental history, leading me to focus my paper on Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau. His story allowed me to examine medical advancements, conservation movements, and the cultural development of the Adirondack region. One of the challenges I encountered during my research was distinguishing between the aspects of the region's development that Trudeau significantly influenced and those he merely advocated for. I am most proud of how I was able to weave various elements into a cohesive project that emphasizes Trudeau's impact on the region, while also discussing how his research and ideas continue to echo throughout the region. Ultimately, I concluded that Trudeau’s establishments and research in the Adirondack region allowed for advancements in the areas of public health, environmental conservation, and tourism, and his pioneering ideas still impact the region today.”

“My FYS put a large amount of focus on the history of St. Lawrence University in the early 1900s. Tree Holiday was something that I had heard about before the class and wanted to research further in my final project. I spent many hours in the University Special Collections, going through 40 years of primary sources such as invitations, letters, maps, and a few pictures. With the help of these documents, I could reconstruct the average Tree Holiday at St. Lawrence University. The trends of Tree Holiday revealed a more profound history and culture of the University, such as trends in race, religion, and gender. Through my research, I found an intricate and beloved holiday that perfectly represents the ideals and values of St. Lawrence University and eventually argued why it should be brought back.”