Please contact Dr. Works (keworks@fsu.eu) for additional help: Submission navigation links for Research Symposium Program Portal WF ‹ Previous submission Next submission › Submission information Submission Number: 176 Submission ID: 9024 Submission UUID: 7069a8ef-5ea1-473d-92ec-346f0d97e8e3 Submission URI: /student-research/symposium/research-symposium-program-portal Submission Update: /student-research/symposium/research-symposium-program-portal?token=y7bGPYShyMspW6jt2TfZ9n5S7vmjzWtYMEGALT10n5M Created: Sun, 01/25/2026 - 04:23 PM Completed: Sun, 01/25/2026 - 04:25 PM Changed: Sun, 02/01/2026 - 08:55 AM Remote IP address: 2601:4c0:4180:4340:9d04:5eae:1421:19b4 Submitted by: Anonymous Language: English Is draft: No Webform: Research Symposium Program Portal WF Submitted to: Student Research Symposium Program Portal Primary Student Contact First Name Primary Student Contact Last Name Pronouns Primary Student Contact FSU Student Email Photo of all individuals presenting this work headshot.jpg188.11 KB Remove Upload requirementsOne file only.2 MB limit. Major(s) of all individuals presenting this work Bio of all individuals presenting this work Astrid Daugherty is a biomedical engineering master’s student at Florida State University, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree. Her research background spans tissue engineering, biomaterials, and complex systems modeling, with a focus on understanding how physical and structural cues influence cellular behavior in health and disease. She has conducted research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, and Mayo Clinic Florida in a variety of biomedical-related projects. Astrid’s work on ovarian cancer organoid models and archaeal-based hydrogels has been presented at multiple national conferences, earning awards including a first-place oral presentation at the Emerging Researchers National Conference in Washington D.C. In addition to research, she has served in leadership and mentorship roles through the Biomedical Engineering Society, UROP, and as a teaching assistant and tutor at FSU. Her long-term research interests center on integrating systems thinking with biomedical engineering to develop translational solutions for complex biological problems. Poster Title Abstract Donella Meadows was a systems scientist and environmental thinker whose work reshaped how complex systems are understood. Meadows addressed a problem in decision-making: the tendency to treat complex systems as predictable and easily controlled. Her work demonstrated that failure across systems arises not from a lack of effort or expertise, but from misunderstanding system structure, feedback, and delay. Rather than focusing on isolated events or short-term outcomes, Meadows emphasized the importance of system dynamics: how interactions among components generate emergent behavior over time. This perspective positioned systems thinking not only as an analytical framework, but as a form of leadership capable of guiding action in conditions of uncertainty and long-term consequence. Representations of feedback dynamics and leverage points illustrate how leaders can shift system behavior by intervening at structural levels instead of reacting to surface-level outcomes. The analysis highlights both the strengths of Meadows’ framework, such as its broad applicability, as well as its limitations, including challenges in resistance to paradigm change. This work demonstrates that Meadows’ systems-based approach offers enduring insights for leadership in any context characterized by complexity and uncertainty. Research Mentor Name Research Mentor's College (or High School) Research Mentor's Department (or Subject) Research Mentor's Email Additional Research Mentor(s) Co-presenter(s) Keywords Poster Session/Number Work Complete Exploratory (the research question has been identified and design of approach is outlined) Presentation Modality Face to Face Poster session Synchronous Online Presentation Asynchronous Online Presentation Poster PDF Upload Upload requirementsOne file only.100 MB limit. Poster Thumbnail Please take a screenshot of your poster to be a thumbnail on your Symposium Program Profile. Upload Upload requirementsOne file only.2 MB limit. I will be printing my poster CAPTCHA What code is in the image? Enter the characters shown in the image. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Save Leave this field blank
