For the last 30 years, the population of Mexico has grappled with overweight, obesity, and associated chronic diseases, such as type-2 diabetes and hypertension. To standardize care among healthcare providers and dietitians, an official nutritional guideline was published in the early 2000s, which included a non-modifiable food-based dietary guideline in...
As the human population grows, the need for alternative and clean forms of energy is greater. The installation of offshore wind energy has been on the rise over the past decade, however the fossil fuel energy generation sectors, such as coal and natural gas, are still major players in the...
Mainstream local food systems focus on environmental and individual health, but labor is out of sight and out of mind. We begin with a story that introduces the immigrant in the room, the locavore’s blind spots, and the need to move beyond mainstream environmentalism and embrace social justice. In the...
This thesis examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on farms in the Willamette Valley. Using semi-structured interviews, this study analyzes the economic and social challenges created by the pandemic and the adaptation strategies farmers employed to build resilience within the food system. This study found that the farmers experienced...
In this paper I discuss an ethnographic research project on identity embodiment among transgender and gender nonconforming punks in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S., with focus on the relationship between transgender/gender nonconforming identity and affiliation to DIY punk communities. Trans punks create a unique, hybridized subculture-based identity embodiment...
This thesis investigates how beginning, women farmers, within in a women farmers’ network in the Willamette Valley, Oregon are accessing land and farming information. Using ethnographic, community-based research methods, I ask how land access mediates their ability to care for their land and soil. Are these farmers interested in fostering...
This paper is an exploratory study of the risk perceptions in the Oregon Hazelnut growing community. The study takes place at a time when the industry as a whole has begun to stabilize from the effects of Eastern Filbert Blight, a fungal pathogen that infects hazelnut trees which had devastated...
In Oregon, the effects of climate change on agriculture are already being felt. In the Northwest, climate change impacts agricultural pest pressure, especially insects, whose life cycles are tied directly to weather and climate. The goal of this research was to record and analyze Oregon fruit and vegetable farmers’ relationships...
Effective methods for the enantiopure formation of substituted piperidine rings are significantly important due to their presence in alkaloid products. A valuable method to form these ring systems would be via an intramolecular heteroatom Michael addition from the corresponding enone or enal. Described herein is a methodolgy that has been...
A generalized, three-dimensional, finite element bridge model was created in order to efficiently and accurately assess live-load girder distribution factors for a variety of bridge types. This model shortens the time required by bridge analysts to develop individual finite element models for bridges of varying geometries. The creation of the...