The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is an issue that is plaguing the globe, not only in the environment, but in the economy as well. Pollinators are essential to maintaining biodiversity and regulating livestock and human crop production. Yet, as time progresses, more pollinators are falling ill to agricultural chemicals, land...
As a child of two Khmer Rouge refugees, the Khmer Rouge genocide serves as the prologue of my family’s story. The Khmer Rouge genocide took place in Cambodia in 1975-1979 after a successful coup led by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) (Dy 2007, 2). In an attempt to create...
It is well known that in-stream large wood affects river channel shape, sediment deposits, stream flow, and available habitat for aquatic species. However, less is known about how wildlife interact with this large wood. Previous research has shown that small mammals and birds utilize woody debris in river channels for...
Optical trapping is a tool used throughout a wide variety of disciplines rang- ing from precisely probing and manipulating sub-micron organisms in biol- ogy to analyzing fundamental charge transfer in colloidal physics. This thesis presents research involving optical tweezer force measurements of polystyrene and silica microspheres. In addition, preliminary work...