SUMMARY
Dear Reader,With pride, we give you the fifth annual issue of The Owl, Florida StateUniversity’s undergraduate research journal. In this issue, we are honoredto present an astounding selection of interesting and diverse researchendeavors that the undergraduate students at Florida State have undertaken.Our mission is to share the finest undergraduate research with otherundergraduates at Florida State and the general public, to embrace thestrength of our research-driven university.With this volume we examine a multitude of issues, from exploration of theconflict in Northern Ireland to the historical significance of Horace Greelyto the diversity of dietary habits in West African immigrants. We highlightin this issue our diversity as a university, featuring five articles from fivedifferent departments at Florida State. Intermixing local and national issueswith groundbreaking research in each field allows us to embrace powerfulknowledge that also functions on a practical level. We are thrilled to upholdFlorida State’s long history of excellence with top-tier research completed byundergraduates. We continue to uphold our commitment to undergraduateresearch, increasing our audience and increasing the range of support toinclude expansive funding for stellar undergraduates to share their researchthrough travel to conferences.This year, as we enter our fifth year at Florida State, we embraced newchallenges and improved our reach more than ever.This year saw the first ever workshop hosted by The Owl, in conjunctionwith the Student Council for Undergraduate Research and CreativityResearch Ambassadors. This year, we also increased our cooperationwith the FSU Libraries to launch our new website, theowl.fsu.edu. We areextremely excited to continue working with the FSU Libraries to publishmore content electronically in conjunction with our yearly print edition.In Vires, Artes, Mores,Sean FreemanEdior-in-Chief