UWEC CERCA 2026

The purpose of this project is to show that the risks of using AI for mental health support are greater than the benefits when compared to a licensed medical professional. Many people use AI tools for mental health support because traditional mental health care can be expensive or hard to access. Whereas AI offers a convenient and non-judgmental option for those seeking help. However, their effectiveness and safety are uncertain, which highlights the importance in considering the potential risks before relying on them. This project draws on research studies, news articles, and expert opinions to explore the potential benefits and risks of AI mental health support. It focuses on ethical concerns, safety issues, and the ability that these services have to provide meaningful and effective mental health support. I aim to show that using AI for mental health care can create serious ethical and safety concerns and often fails to provide adequate support. This project supports that the risks of using AI outweigh the benefits when compared to licensed medical professionals, highlighting the importance of professional oversight and human connection in mental health care.

Fully in the throws of the internet age, it would seem that the world is rife with conspiracies—or at least with theories about them. The past ten years have brought forth many answers of how and why these theories spread, but much less is known about what they do to the minds of their devotees. In order to explore this question, the essay “Conspiracies Are Everywhere” follows the rabbit hole down to the bedrock, sewing the seeds of paranoia and placing the audience firsthand within the mindset of the conspiracist. Benjamin Bachim’s combination of extensive psychological research and subtle manipulation presents a compelling meta-narrative on the nature of conspiracist worldviews while exploring the virology of the conspiracy theory and the spiraling, negative social and psychological consequences of belief.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a popular and controversial topic over the last couple of years. AI can be very broad, so I chose to focus on the impact of AI in pharmaceutical research. Before sharing my input on AI in the drug development process, I read posts from large companies and scholarly articles to find how AI was assisting researchers, as well as the cost of implementing it. By linking the benefits researchers gain from AI with the technology's real costs, my illustrated article seeks to persuade business leaders to recognize the side of AI that researchers experience firsthand. Overall, my article is written for CFOs or CAOs to demonstrate that, although AI can be costly, it is beneficial in helping researchers develop new drugs more efficiently.

The purpose of this illustrative essay was to show that mandatory death and trauma education is crucial when it comes to healthcare and should be implemented better in nursing school. This would ultimately prepare nursing students better clinically as well as emotionally, reducing the high burnout and nurse turnover in healthcare today. After an extensive amount of research, I found that clinical preparation is what the focus is on in nursing school, with psychological and emotional preparation heavily dismissed yet, equally as important. Research done by Schenell et al. and Ohue and Menta show that specifically new graduate nurses are the ones that feel the most unprepared when faced with death and/or traumatic experiences. These situations ultimately lead to burnout, nurse turnover, emotional numbness, and lower quality care towards patients. This project used peer reviewed article analysis as well as educated the reader on educational simulations/programs that walk nursing students through step by step how to handle emotionally difficult situations. The research done concludes that education on death and trauma would boost emotional strength, reduce burnout, and better support nurses’ mental health.

Last semester, I took WRIT 118 with Dr. Rylander, and for our final paper, we were tasked with writing a memoir that illuminates a significant memory, experience, turning point, or moment of understanding in our lives and to incorporate research in our paper in some way . The tricky part was trying to find something to write about. I’ve had the idea of writing about families dealing with housing issues because of low income and how it affects the kids for a while. This is due to my own personal issues with housing issues and low income throughout my childhood. A part of why I wrote this is that I feel in the media, we don’t hear enough from the perspective of people who don’t have a childhood bedroom to go home to. The other part was to talk about the effects low income has on the families-mostly the kids-stress, and the ability to keep housing. I have had to move a few times through my childhood, but weirdly enough, I always got to keep nearly the same route to school almost every day in my early education. The one road that would always stay constant was Highway F. In my memoir, I use the road as a sort of way to tell the timeline of different times I’ve moved and how it impacted me. I then used trusted sources and cited quotes that backed up the impact that housing instability and low income have on children. My hope with writing this is to give a deeper perspective to people with low income and teach that life can be as unstable as housing sometimes, but it’s ok because life is always changing, so you should try to stay in the present.

"Environmental Times Magazine: No Better Time, Save Wisconsin" is a magazine that shares the effects climate change is having on Wisconsin. It deep dives into the direct effects climate change is having on ecological balance throughout the state. The magazine shares some ways that Wisconsin is already working on these issues and some solutions that we should consider putting into place. The goal of this magazine is to inform those who live in Wisconsin about these effects in a creative and fun way.

My podcast From Survivor to Healer aims to inspire listeners by showing how childhood cancer experiences influence survivors to pursue careers in healthcare. The central research question asks what personal experiences drive pediatric cancer survivors to choose a career in healthcare. The project argues that meaningful interactions with care teams, emotional resilience developed during treatment, and firsthand exposure to medical environments strongly impacts survivors to give back through healthcare careers. My intended audience for the podcast is fellow cancer survivors, caregivers, and anyone interested in pediatric oncology. To reach this audience, the episode uses personal storytelling, a survivor interview, and emotional narratives to create an informative and enjoyable listen.

This project's purpose was to convince people to think twice about the pollution they may be causing to the Great Lakes. To achieve this, I researched how the pollution of water affects wildlife in the Great Lakes region. My research showed that water pollution from multiple sources has a negative impact on not only wildlife but also humans. I intended this project for people who live around or visit the Great Lakes region. I shared research about common sources of pollution and also some solutions that can help fix the problem at hand.

Post World War II, labor unions entered something loosely called the Golden Age: a time where blue collar people had pride, community, and financial stability still evident in the inflection of tone those who lived through these years have when they discuss the “good old days”. Now, blue collar jobs are losing five employees for every two who join the workplace, and college applicant rates are at an all time high. The blue collar / redneck / working man doesn’t garner anywhere near the same respect he once did— so why? Though this is a multi faceted event, there’s an argument to be made that in mainstream media, “Blue Collar Comedy” is not a topic where the working man is respected or can form community, but rather a genre of content created and consumed by those middle class & upwards, used to punch down on those who work with their hands. My intended audience is broad, for blue collar families and outsiders alike: for those who work with their hands, I wanted this to be a bit of a ‘call to action’ (emphasized with a question asked in the end of my podcast), and for those unfamiliar with this topic, I wanted to educate on both the history of workers and give them a more current insider glimpse.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies earned more money in a single year than many countries produce in a decade. I created a website to share knowledge about this issue with faculty and students alike. In the digital age, this modality is an effective means of raising awareness about the lack of transparency in the medical industry. This project includes visuals, texts, and hyperlinks to important resources. It discusses the appalling amount of censorship in the pharmaceutical industry that supports company profits. Without transparency, there can be no accountability, and this presentation will raise the audience’s awareness of this need.

Musical Censorship: How It Affects Different Cultures examines the role of political power across nations in controlling music. This project takes a rhetorical look at how music censorship is used as a tool to suppress political expression and create awareness among its readers by informing them about the great impact that music censorship has on free speech. The main research question asks how and why governments censor music, even in societies with different political systems. This project argues that musical censorship occurs across cultures for similar political reasons, regardless of whether a country is democratic or communist. It examines examples from the United States, China, Hong Kong, and Czechoslovakia: the controversy over the Dixie Chicks, protest songs in both the Tiananmen Square and the Umbrella movements, and the suppression of rock music in communist Czechoslovakia. These events proved that music is often targeted when challenging authority. The intended audience was students and general readers interested in music, politics, and culture. The newspaper style in layout, visuals, and language made the information accessible while presenting historical research in a way that was clear and understandable.

The Impact of Parental Language on the Mindsets of Children“Parents: Do You Know the Impact of Your Language?” explores the influence of parental language on the resilience, motivation, and confidence of children. Today, researchers, teachers, and parents are witnessing a steady decline in children’s growth mindsets and their traits, with a 2024 national survey reporting that 69 percent of teachers shared a problem with low academic motivation in their classrooms, and a 2025 Hark report recording that 1 in 3 young people expressed they have little or no confidence. With these facts in mind, this editorial aims to inform parents about the impact of their language and how they can change their wording to instill growth mindset attributes in their children. This piece makes use of an easy-to-follow design, widespread publication, ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively appeal to the chosen audience of parents. The editorial concludes with a call to action, urging parents to implement change in their household by utilizing effort-based praise rather than person praise when affirming their children, highlighting how this language increases the likelihood of youths adopting a growth mindset, and with that, higher levels of resilience, motivation, and confidence to successfully carry them throughout their lives.

As a student who has been through mulitple levels of education, I believe we have faced self-censorship, which is refraining from our own ideas due to the fear of controversial backlash. I also believe this is destroying our free speech rights that build society. Self-censorship is the main cause of this rising issue that takes place at numerous educational institutions across the U.S. and prevents the collaboration of new ideas or concepts that improve critical thinking skills. This project is intended for students, faculty, staff, and policymakers who have the power to change campuses and develop policies to uphold our free speech rights. I designed a PowerPoint presentation that included striking images, constitutional rights, and statistical examples to emphasize my topic. This project will draw my audience into a conversation about our current state by examining the values of free speech rights and expressions that can help us grow diverse perspectives.

My infographic teaches civilians that animals feeding on the lakes are becoming contaminated and then consumed by civilians. This brings new knowledge as it opens the public’s and the government’s eyes about people who depend on sources of meat for cultural and financial reasons. In my project, I examined how to provide for lower-income families and Native Americans who are dependent on animals. I believe that the government should compensate for food costs and water costs.

This Animal Planet-style video shows how the endangerment of Lake Sturgeon impacts the Great Lakes. The Lake Sturgeon is culturally important to indigenous people as well as historically significant to the Great Lakes Region. While the Department of Natural Resources are protecting the Lake Sturgeon, I feel that their story is special and they should be a greater focus to the conservationists of the Great Lakes. This film brings awareness to how important they are to so many people, therefore we need to do more to protect them.

My video essay examines why adults are drawn to horror movies despite fear being an emotion most people avoid in their day-to-day lives. This project explores how fictional fear activates the brain's survival systems and gives reasoning for why these responses can feel exciting rather than distressing. It argues that horror movies create controlled environments for viewers that engage in both immediate and prolonged fear responses, allowing them to safely reinterpret fear as pleasure. The intended audience for my video essay is adults who enjoy horror films and are curious about the psychological effects of the genre. To reach my audience, the video uses accessible scientific explanations, interactive imagery, and familiar horror visuals to engage the audience and to clearly connect my research with the viewer's experience.

This multimodal public service announcement was created to raise awareness about overfishing in the Great Lakes and its impact on freshwater ecosystems. The project explores how human overexploitation disrupts ecological balance and threatens the survival of fish populations. Told from a first-person fish perspective, the project argues that overfishing harms not only individual species but also the entire ecosystem that depends on biodiversity and balance. The intended audience includes students and community members who may not realize how everyday human actions affect aquatic environments. To reach this audience, the project uses emotional storytelling, underwater visuals, and environmental research to encourage sustainable fishing practices and habitat protection.

From the beginning of the colonization of the United States, indigenous languages have been steadily going extinct. This has led younger generations to feel disconnected from who they are, leading them to have the highest dropout rates among all ethnic groups in the United States, (between 29% and 36% (Native Hope, 2024)) as well as leading them to be six times more likely to want to die by suicide (Flannery). In this report, I address the pitfalls and successes of immersion and K-12 schools in the United States and their effects on these students' sense of belonging in education. All in all, this is to answer the question: How does the education system and its attitude towards indigenous languages in the classroom impact the social identity of indigenous communities whose cultures are being erased? I examined undergraduate research journals and their sources along with educators' research on their roles in language revitalization. This poster presents recommendations to aid current immersion programs and K-12 schools as they combat language extinction and create better educational experiences for indigenous students.