The proportion of professional staff on higher education campuses has significantly grown in recent decades. Despite this growth, the racial makeup of this employee population still does not reflect the increasing diversity of students in higher education. While higher education institutions pronounce their commitments to developing diversity, equity, and inclusion...
Soils contain the largest pool of carbon that is actively cycling on human timescales, leading many to view soils as a natural climate solution with multiple co-benefits. The field of soil science is rapidly evolving, but without a unified understanding of soil carbon dynamics. This dissertation leverages two distinct long-term...
North American bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) have experienced significant declines and population extirpations due to novel pathogens such as Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae. This disease continues to limit the population restoration of bighorn sheep. Therefore, understanding the demographic consequences of pathogen presence and the risk of contact between bighorn populations and potential...
Personal health monitoring tools, a subset of point-of care-diagnostics, enable more frequent testing of chronic health conditions outside of a clinic setting and can inform personalized therapy or support telehealth diagnostic capabilities. While there is evidence that regular monitoring of chronic conditions can lead to better health outcomes and lower...
This dissertation presents novel, field-activated smart material systems for the actuation and control of autonomous robots. Smart materials, a type of material whose properties can be changed with an external stimuli, represent a promising direction to expand upon existing robotic control and actuation methods, particularly in the sub-fields of soft...
The COVID-19 pandemic was thought to be especially difficult for older adults, with high risks for social isolation due to the lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic. This study sought to understand the extent to which these community-residing older adults were receiving and providing social support. Further, we sought to disentangle...
Water electrolysis plays a pivotal role in achieving a green hydrogen economy by sourcing electricity from intermittent renewable sources. However, the efficiency of the electrolysis process is limited by the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics, whereas the kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are more facile. This thesis...
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), protein regions (IDRs), and protein complexes continue to emerge at the forefront of protein science. Proteins and protein regions lacking specific structure are found in all organisms, and often have vital roles in numerous biological processes. Breaking the well-known structure-function paradigm, the understanding of disorder-based functionality...
Most marine fishes experience high rates of mortality during their early life history stages with far reaching consequences for adult population dynamics. Within a few weeks of hatching, relatively small changes in larval growth and mortality rates can lead to orders of magnitude variability in year-class strength. Growth and survival...
Due to a growing body of literature documenting declines in pollinator populations, there has been increased public interest in pollinator conservation. In urban and suburban landscapes, many gardeners and urban land managers are interested in gardening for pollinators, particularly bees. Simultaneously, many homeowners and municipalities are interested in other aspects...