Vol. 4 No. 1 (2014)

Dear Reader, With pride we give you the fourth annual issue of The Owl, Florida State University’s premier undergraduate research journal! In this issue we are honored to present to you an array of interesting and diverse research endeavors that our current undergraduate class has embarked on. Our mission continues to be to share the finest undergraduate research with the general public and to embrace the strength of our research-driven university. With this issue we examine a multitude of fronts, from exploration of lobster to the historical musing of raves to the creative artwork from featured authors. We highlight in this issue our diversity as a university as well as the popular culture influences on our research interests, including topics such as The Bill Cosby Show. Intermixing popular culture with the critical idea of our fields allows us to embrace powerful knowledge that also functions on a practical level. We are thrilled to uphold Florida State’s long history with top-tier research, and expand this research emphasis to include our undergraduate class. We continue to uphold our commitment to undergraduate research, increasing our audience and increasing the range of support to include expansive funding for stellar undergraduates to share their research through travel to conferences. Our newly added Fall edition of The Owl to be published online represents a step of commitment to working with a sole department to increase undergraduate research production. We continue to strive for the increased magnitude of undergraduate research at this university, and aim with high hopes to further these advances in our future years. We hope to inspire future researchers—faculty, graduates, and undergraduates— with this 2014 edition of The Owl. Please enjoy and share the pride that we have for our undergraduate researchers at Florida State University.

In Vires, Artes, Mores,

Katie Rybakova

Editor-in-Chief

Sean Freeman

Design and Creative Director