From my personal experiences, I’ve noticed that Latinx students and families are most receptive to college-related information communicated as anecdotes. Latinx students are among the most poorly represented demographic at universities nationwide, which I believe can be mitigated through calculated efforts to increase collegiate literacy and understanding. This project is...
The curriculum of technical degrees at higher education institutions in the United States needs to continuously adapt to ever changing technologies. One way to accomplish this is to adopt a more dynamic approach that separates the practical and theoretical components of the university education, and where the student concentrates on...
Five varieties of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) were grown in the field in Imperial Valley, CA, USA in order to determine whether light conditions or harvest times influence cannabinoid content. A total of 16 cannabinoids were investigated in this study: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC-d9), Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinolic acid (THC-a), Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabidiolic acid (CBD-a),...
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Marc Curtis, Committee Member, representing the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology
Coral reefs are diverse ecosystems and serve many purposes including preventing erosion on coastlines and acting as a source of food, income, and culture. Acropora cervicornis, a staghorn coral, has faced a significant 80-89% decline in the Caribbean, attributed to a poorly-characterized epizootic, White Band Disease (WBD). Previous studies showed...
The gut microbiome of all mammals is composed of a diverse commune of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa and viruses 1. Studies have shown a symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiome and host physiology, with there being implications in health and disease progression 2. In captive animals, there has...
Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) for hydrogen production exhibit great advantages over many other biohydrogen production techniques in terms of versatility of substrate and hydrogen yield. However, hydrogen scavenging by methanogens put forward a great challenge to the application of the single chamber MECs when using mixed culture. Various strategies were...
Biomass pretreatment-derived degradation compounds, such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural (HMF),inhibit the growth of fermentation microorganisms that utilize biomass to produce biofuels and chemicals. Here we report that manganese(III) can degrade furfural and HMF, making them less toxic to microorganisms. Treatment with manganese(III) reduced furfural and HMF concentrations in a dose-dependent...