Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Institutional Support For A Minority Engineering Program At A Historically White Institution, Stephanie Damas

All Dissertations

Engineering programs at historically White institutions (HWIs) often perpetuate stereotypes and racism against Black students, impacting their experiences and opportunities in the field. Minority engineering programs (MEPs) provide support and resources to minority students in engineering, challenging stereotypes and fostering positive identity development. MEPs push back on cultural norms by rejecting the stereotypical narrative of what it means to be Black in engineering. Despite their significance, MEPs face challenges in garnering institutional support and recognition within engineering departments. It is imperative to understand what institutional support for MEPs looks like to mitigate barriers identified in the literature. To address these …

Integrating Artificial Intelligence And Augmented Reality For Enhanced Task Performance In The Construction Industry, Aasish Chandrika Bhanu

All Dissertations

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector, characterized by its complex tasks, often faces challenges in adopting cutting-edge technologies, a trend that can significantly hinder productivity improvements compared to other industries. This dissertation explores the emerging integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) within the AEC domain, investigating how effectively this can be implemented to potentially revolutionize industry practices. AI could be used in the AEC domain for advanced analytical and decision-making processes, while AR could be used for training, visualization, and remote collaboration.

In scenarios where construction site workers require expert guidance, these technologies could be helpful. …

Lab To Leadership: How Do Women College Stem Students’ Classroom Experiences Inform Their Leader Identity Development?, Meredith Mcdevitt

All Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploration of leader identity development and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college academic classrooms. While there continues to be research promoting diversity in STEM professions, women remain underrepresented in STEM disciplines, leadership positions, and for this specific study, the college academic classroom. This dissertation represents an opportunity for women in STEM college students to reflect on their experiences in STEM academic spaces and communities, while self-exploring factors that shape their leader identity development. The research utilized a basic qualitative research design to understand the participant’s authentic experiences within the academic environment. Conducting semi-structured …

Exploring Healthcare Chatbot Information Presentation: Applying Hierarchical Bayesian Regression And Inductive Thematic Analysis In A Mixed Methods Study, Samuel Nelson Koscelny

All Theses

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, significantly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. While contributing to over 691,000 deaths in 2021 alone in the United States (U.S.), it also imposes immense economic burden on the healthcare system, costing approximately $131 billion annually. One way to address this issue is for increased self-care behaviors and medication adherence, both of which require sufficient health literacy. Despite the importance of health literacy, 90% of U.S. adults struggle with health-related subjects. Overcoming the issues associated with health literacy requires addressing the …

California 4-H Computer Science Education Pathway, Steven M. Worker, Roshan Nayak, Fe Moncloa

The Journal of Extension

Young people need digital competency and confidence to effectively harness computing power to solve problems and design solutions; a core component is improving young people’s computational thinking. Unfortunately, access to computer science education is lacking for all youth, and in particular for youth who live in lower-income households, who are Black or Latino, or live in rural areas. With funding from Google, through the National 4-H Council, California 4-H embarked on a three-year project to build the capacity of 4-H professionals, volunteers, and teenagers to facilitate computer science education with youth. Our programming was effective as assessed with survey methodology. …

“How Are High School Counselors Prioritizing The Information Relevant To Stem Career Preparation In Their Communication With Stem-Interested African American Students?”, Wysheka Austin

All Dissertations

Although African Americans and other minoritized groups have gradually increased in the number of students graduating with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree over the years, these groups remain underrepresented in STEM. Among the many factors contributing to the lack of representation is “college readiness,” which includes academic preparation and awareness of the necessary steps needed for college admission and career preparation [5]. South Carolina policy only considers academic preparation in their assessment of college readiness. To measure academic preparation of any student, the state relies on standardized test scores and advanced course taking without regard to subject. …

Evacuation Of Students With Intellectual Disability In Building Fires: A Three-Part Methodology, Haley Hostetter

All Dissertations

People with disabilities are one of the most vulnerable groups in building fires. Despite this, they have traditionally been overlooked by fire evacuation researchers. This is perhaps the most alarming for the group with Intellectual Disability when given their present statistics for fire involvement, injuries, and death. Annually, people with mental disabilities are involved in 1700 home fires, resulting in 39 fatalities and 122 injuries per 1000 fires. Additionally, 40% of these fires were started intentionally by people with mental disabilities. When combined with their high fire risk, the lack of evacuation research focused on people with Intellectual Disability shows …

Evaluating Company Culture Of Roofing Contracting Companies To Attract And Retain Women In The Industry, Gopika Viswanathan

All Theses

The US construction industry, similar to many other industries, has a low representation of women. This difference is even more pronounced in construction trades, such as the roofing industry. The admission of more women into the industry is important to address workforce shortage issues that the industry is facing. Company culture has been cited as one of the primary reasons why women choose not to enter the industry or face barriers during their careers. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the company culture of roofing companies through factors identified by literature and by women and companies in …

Modeling Of Multi-Period Disaster Logistics Planning In The State Of South Carolina, Emma Simon

All Theses

South Carolina is one of the most vulnerable states in the United States to the impact of hurricanes. Currently, when threatened with a natural disaster such as a hurricane, the state government makes many vital decisions based on knowledge and experience. In this study, the distribution of disaster relief commodities to meet immediate needs is analyzed through two models for the case of South Carolina to generate an optimal logistics strategy that considers the social vulnerability of affected populations. The first model is a multi-objective pre-disaster logistics model that uses a four-index formulation for the multiple trip vehicle routing problem. …

Depression And Anxiety: Investigating The Impacts Of Scheduling On The Mental Health Of Healthcare Workers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Christofer Gonzaga

All Theses

Depression is a growing problem in the United States and has ballooned into a globally recognized mental health issue that affects shift workers in various fields (Lee et al., 2017). Rates of depression and anxiety have been shown to be substantially increasing and the COVID-19 pandemic amplified this prevalence of depression and anxiety. In the United States, the prevalence of depression symptoms was more than 3- fold higher during COVID-19 compared to before the pandemic (Ettman et al., 2020). The delivery of healthcare services is an ongoing and dynamic process, requiring clinicians to work in various shifts to ensure the …