Despite ongoing initiatives and research efforts, the persistent underrepresentation of marginalized groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines in the U.S. has seen little improvement. This study posits that a fundamental change in teacher preparation can lead to more inclusive STEM learning environments. It centers on the development...
Over time, Open Source Software (OSS) has become indispensable in the creation and upkeep of software products, serving as the fundamental building block for widely used solutions in our daily lives, including applications that enable communication, entertainment, and productivity. A sustainable OSS ecosystem is one that attracts and retains a...
Domestic violence (DV) is pervasive worldwide and has negative psychological effects that last a lifetime. Although DV is a problem that affects all societies, it is addressed through varied legal responses and with gaps in comprehension when examined through a cultural lens. The findings of these studies have the potential...
People turn to mass spectrometry to answer some of life’s most important questions. From carbon dating of archeological finds to newborn blood screening tests, mass spectrometry allows us to measure molecules which helps advance our knowledge of life and the world we live in. One area of mass spectrometry that...
Motivation: Many robots such as legged robots and prosthetic hands/arms are designed to interact with uncertain and time-varying environments to accomplish their tasks.
Observations on humans and animals during their daily tasks suggest that they adapt their leg compliance while traversing with different velocities on different grounds and adjust their...
Counseling as a profession has been on a journey of self-examination as CACREP approaches the release of its revised standards and the world recovers from the tumultuous few years under the shadow of the pandemic. Cultural shifts in perspective have prompted new conversations around concepts related to sexuality, racial identity,...
Combinatorics is a field of mathematics that concerns enumeration and existence, and its most notable applications are in computer science and statistics. Most students are introduced to combinatorics through counting problems, where they are tasked with determining the cardinality of a set of outcomes. Such problems are well-known for being...
Additive manufacturing has become a promising method for the fabrication of inexpensive, green, flexible sensors and electronics. Printed electronics on low- temperature substrates are very appealing for the flexible hybrid electronics market for their use in disposable and biocompatible electronic applications and in areas like packaging, wearables, and consumer electronics....
Play therapy is a unique skill set within psychotherapy that combines the language of play with other forms of communication to promote healing and growth in children and adolescents. This therapeutic approach involves utilizing toys, pretend play, structured and unstructured activities, and various interactions to foster a therapeutic relationship. By...
Quantum mechanics is increasingly being taught with a spins-first approach where instructors use simple spin systems to introduce the principles of quantum mechanics rather than systems with wavefunctions. One of the defining characteristics of a spins-first approach is that systems studied have discrete bases, whereas systems with wavefunctions have continuous...
In this dissertation we present a compilation of the research conducted during the author’s doctoral program. In the first part, we discuss a case study regarding the impact of scholar-ships on student success at Oregon State University (OSU). Specifically, we look at the grad-uation and retention rates and aim to...
Anthropogenic induced climate change is predicted to alter distribution of existing plant populations. As plants migrate over space and time, populations often fragment and contract, affecting basic elements of population dynamics (e.g., population size, gene flow, genetic diversity, etc.). Little is known, however, how these impacts on plant species will...
The counseling profession has historically adopted a one-size-fits-all approach toward addressing bereavement. However, there is an emerging paradigm-shift in grief therapy that has been enabled by recent research that differentiates, for example, between types of grief and styles of grieving. This research project contributes to this nuanced approach to grief...
Hyporheic zones are important regions that reside below and along the sides of streams. Within this region, several ecosystem services are provided including stream temperature regulation, habitats for a large variety of species, pollutant removal, and nutrient cycling. Exchange between the hyporheic zone and stream occurs across multiple scales, but...
Streams across the western United States are impaired from human alterations that have reduced freshwater habitat by simplifying channel complexity and disconnecting floodplains (Knox et al., 2022; Waples et al., 2008; Wohl, 2014). Climate change is likely to continue exacerbating these risks by warming summer surface stream temperatures (Crozier et...
Sediment convergence and divergence zones create subaqueous morphological features that range from ripples O (cm) to coastlines O (km). However, there is a gap in knowledge associated with quantifying the contribution of small-scale ripple mobility to the evolution of large-scale morphology. To address this gap, we investigate how small-scale ripples...
The RV Ronald H. Brown traveled a section of tropical Atlantic waters northeast of Barbados during January-February 2020 in an international collaboration effort known as Elucidating the Role of Clouds Circulation Coupling in Climate Campaign (EUREC4A). ATOMIC (Atlantic Trade-wind Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign) was the US contribution to EUREC4A focused...
Multiagent learning offers a rich framework to address challenging real-world problems such as remote exploration and healthcare coordination, which require autonomous agents to express elaborate interactions. To be effective in such systems, agents must collectively reason about and pursue high-level, long-term, and possibly nebulous objectives while adapting their strategy to...
A secret sharing scheme allows a dealer to distribute a secret with a set of parties, such that only a certain subset of parties can collaborate and learn the shared secret. Traditional secret sharing schemes have been used as building blocks in various subdomains of cryptography. Recently, two new extensions...
The continued long-term use of fossil fuels as a primary energy source has resulted in dramatic increases in greenhouse gas emissions and the associated concerns of climate change and environmental pollution. A key strategy to circumvent these issues is a global shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources....
Natural products have long been an important source of resources for humans. Many of these compounds possess unique chemical structures and potent biological properties. By targeting natural products with specific chemical properties, we can gain a better understanding of the roles these compounds play in the environment and their interactions...
Background:
The number of people diagnosed with chronic physical conditions is increasing in the United States. Chronic mental illnesses are also common in the country. Low-income women and those on Medicaid bear a disproportionate burden of chronic conditions and these conditions significantly contribute to obstetric morbidity. Prioritizing preventive measures and...
One of the pervasive problems arising in our modern, digital world surrounds data breaches where an adversary, through zero-day exploitations, phishing, or old-fashioned social engineering attacks, gains access to a service’s data stores. Our society increasingly relies on these cloud-based services for everything from our taxes to personal communication. As...
Forests provide a wide range of timber and non-timber products along with providing a range of ecological services and support for biodiversity. Climate change poses various risks to forest health, as it can disrupt tree growth functions and trigger natural disturbances that increase tree mortality. In recent decades, altered disturbance...
Long-term, large-scale studies of meta-ecosystems provide critical information about how global change influences communities. In my dissertation, I analyzed data from studies encompassing 18 years (2006 – 2023) and over 1,000 km of coastline to investigate drivers of rocky intertidal community structure and dynamics. Specifically, I explored the roles of...
Optical sensing technologies are pivotal in the manufacturing process, specifically in defect detection, tool condition estimation, and monitoring. The research aims to enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and reliability of manufacturing metrology by employing optical sensing technologies, such as laser profilometers and image processing techniques. The dissertation proposes intelligent and flexible...
This dissertation examines college students' reflections on gender-related topics within a social justice course of a teacher preparation program. Using critical and feminist approaches, this study explores how a strategically designed curriculum focused on the study of gender enhances students' understanding of sexism, gender oppression, and masculinity. The curriculum employs...
The gut microbiome has been previously implemented in a number of diseases. Of note is its substantial role in metabolic syndrome, which encapsulates a group of conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. Understanding the causal relationships between the gut microbiome and host processes...
This work investigates the acoustic velocity of gas-liquid mixtures in vertical, co-current flow in a concentric annulus. Acoustic velocity shows promise as a detection parameter for the presence and amount of gas in a liquid flow because of its high sensitivity to gas void fraction in a gas-liquid mixture. However,...
Among the candidates for the next generation of nuclear power plant is the high temperature gas reactor (HTGR). Since the HTGR does not have the same operational history as water cooled reactors do in the United States, investigation into the response of different accident phenomena is still an active area...
In the most challenging nuclear power plant accidents, transient critical heat flux (CHF) is a primary phenomenon that drives peak cladding temperature and ultimately fuel failure. It is not yet determined whether the use of steady-state CHF methods can accurately predict transient CHF under the conditions of a blowdown due...
Metabolomics has recently gained momentum in biomolecule research and complements the genomics and proteomics research space. Metabolomics strives to detect, identify, and quantify all metabolites present in biological samples. In particular, biomolecular analysis using ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) has become increasingly important for metabolomic analyses. Similarly,...
Professional school counselors are tasked with providing effective and relevant career counseling and career-focused activities with all K–12 students; however, the career domain remains the area where school counselors feel least efficacious and competent to broach as part of their role. Addressing the career domain in schools is vital as...
Rapid and sensitive detection of stress hormones, such as cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), can benefit the diagnosis of diseases related to adrenal gland disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, and more. Stress hormones fluctuate in a circadian rhythm, the highest in the early morning and the lowest at night;...
Learning to recognize objects is a fundamental and essential step in human perception and understanding of the world. Accordingly, research of object discovery across diverse modalities plays a pivotal role in the context of computer vision. This field not only contributes significantly to enhancing our understanding of visual information but...
Aromatic hydrocarbons represent a large class of environmental contaminants that have a broad range of structures, physicochemical properties, and toxicities. Arising from the burning of organic matter, particularly fossil fuels, they are both widespread and abundant in all environmental compartments. Both monoaromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are...
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a prevalent gastrointestinal disorder experienced by 10–15% of the global population, manifesting as chronic abdominal pain, bloating and inconsistent bowel habits. The search for effective treatments remains ongoing. One promising contender in this realm is kappa-casein glycomacropeptide (GMP), a milk-derived peptide. Its potential benefits stem...
Cell signaling under external stimulation is a critical mechanism that governs many biological processes such as cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell apoptosis, etc. For multicellular organisms, the ability to synchronize heterogeneous individual cellular responses through intercellular communication is crucial to maintain normal functionality. However, even though the biological pathways...
Autonomous robotic agents are on their way to becoming in-home personal assistants, construction assistants, and warehouse workers. The degree of autonomy of such systems is reflected by the manner in which we specify goals to them; the abstraction of low-level commands to high-level goals goes hand-in-hand with increased autonomy. In...
Low-power receivers (RX) with 100$\mu W$-scale power consumption can enable several power/energy-constrained IoT applications. However, achieving sensitivity, interferer tolerance and wide operating range with low power presents a challenge for existing architectures, particularly those constrained to highly integrated solutions without high-Q off-chip components. Existing solutions rely heavily on high quality...
Determining the electrical properties of ceria-based materials is important for their use as electrodes in hot-wall magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generators with wall temperatures greater than 1500 ̊C. The electrical conductivity of a material can be used in models for predicting the performance of generator designs. More specifically, the temperature dependent...
Early seral forests regenerating from stand-replacing disturbances provide unique habitat for many species in productive, temperate forest landscapes and contribute to supporting biodiversity. Population declines in some species associated with early seral forests have prompted concerns about the conservation of these habitats, particularly the characteristic structural and compositional complexity associated...
This set of studies delve into the complex realm of healthy sexuality within sexual addiction treatment, where diverse perspectives often lead to confusion and suboptimal outcomes. The primary goal of most treatment models is guiding clients toward a healthier sexual experience.
Sex addiction, a complex phenomenon, involves compulsive sexual behaviors,...
Coral reefs, found in tropical regions, are renowned for their rich biodiversity and their contributions to ecological, cultural, and economic aspects worldwide. The success of coral reefs hinges on the symbiotic partnership between corals and their dinoflagellate algae, from the family Symbiodiniaceae. The algae reside within the coral host’s gastrodermal...
There is a growing need for individualized instructional designs in 4-year institutions due to: 1) growing undergraduate enrollment trends across the U.S., 2) broader diversity in students backgrounds, and 3) the growing prevalence of asynchronous remote learning. With the growth in computer technology in education, tools such as adaptive intelligent...
Freshwater systems cycle carbon along a spatial and temporal biogeochemical continuum, across which ecosystem processes contribute to transformations of organic matter (OM). Various ecological constraints impact rates OM transformation and production and consumption of the energetic end of respiration, methane. Microbiological processing and complete reduction of carbon substrates to methane...
The oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO2) is ubiquitous throughout many industrial processes and is a common probe reaction used to help understand catalytic systems in research settings. The reaction is essential in power generation and transportation exhaust gas treatment technologies to ensure environmental safety, because CO...
The dehumanization of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and marginalized communities does not end once an individual is released from an institution. The dehumanization process is kept alive with ineffective community supervision and the stigma associated with an individual’s incarnation history. Evidence of this continual dehumanization process is reflected...
The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), located on the eastern boundary of the North Pacific Ocean, is highly dynamic, with variable conditions driven by seasonal upwelling, regional oceanography, and broad scale climate patterns. In the last decade, the northeast Pacific Ocean has experienced several marine heatwaves (MHWs), prolonged periods...
Tabletop role-playing games (TRPG) such as Dungeons & Dragons™ are widely known and enjoyed by diverse individuals across the world. However, TRPGs and their players historically have experienced significant stigmatization due to the misconception by some that fantasy role play leads to psychological dysfunction. While a large body of research...