Digital Commons Network^™

Raisin Fingers, Sophia Hatzikos

Graduate School of Art Theses

I am a sculptor that uses site reactive interactions, video documentation, and studio-based processes to explore landscape. I investigate my multifaceted relationship of self to my sensorial memory of landscape. Through themes of memory, loss and longing intertwined with my personal connection to water. I identify the intersections of sculpture and landscape seeking ways in which environments shapes decisions in the making process.

Through case studies of two distinct landscapes, Malaki and Tyson, I look at how these environments serve as sources of inspiration and material for experimentation. By identifying the ways in which I researched at each site respectively …

Uncanny Bodies, Samantha Neu

MFA in Visual Art

In “Uncanny Bodies,” unseemly bits are revealed, sensibilities are questioned, and solid ground morphs into shaky mounds. I delve into how the uncanny challenges traditional views and societal norms about the body. My artwork emphasizes the fluid and often unsettling experiences of physical existence, blurring the boundaries between personal and collective perceptions. Through distortions and manipulation of scale, the familiar is rendered alien in my sculptures, prints, and paintings. Through this ambiguity, I hope to offer space for the viewer to navigate their body’s emotional and physical relationship to the unknown.

[W]Hole: Journey To Fullness, Joni P. Gordon

MFA in Visual Art

My work raises critical questions about Black history, race, gender, beauty, and privilege. My practice also highlights the intersectionality of colorism and racism. I use materials such as cardboard rectangles with handwritten words, brown paper, doors defaced by scratches, fire, printed images, newspaper, and projected photographs to ask and answer those questions. I also use Work and Travel documents, broom and brush bristle, mop fiber, towels, and audio recordings of oral histories to exhibit invisible scars wrought by racist actions as physical and material manifestations.

My practice began after experiencing racial discrimination for the first time on a US work …

Mending Trust In Ai: Trust Repair Policy Interventions For Large Language Models In Visual Data Journalism, Hangxiao Zhu

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Trust in Large Language Models (LLMs) emerged as a pivotal concern. This is because, despite the transformative potential of LLMs in enhancing the interpretability and interactivity of complex datasets, the opacity of these models and instances of inaccuracies or biases have led to a significant trust deficit among end-users. Moreover, there is a tendency for people to personify AI tools that utilize these LLMs, attributing abilities and sensibilities that they do not truly possess. This thesis exploits this personification and proposes a comprehensive framework of trust repair policies tailored to address the challenges inherent in LLM annotations within data journalism …

Characteristics Based Factor Models - Comparison Of Estimation Procedures, Henri Ohl

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Understanding cross-sectional and time series variation of asset returns is fundamental in finance, particularly in asset pricing. This thesis explores the integration of factor theory with machine learning to deepen our comprehension of these dynamics. Characteristics based factor models offer a systematic framework for quantifying an asset's underlying risk-return structure, leveraging time-varying conditional information on model parameters carried by firm-specific characteristics. These models serve as valuable tools for discerning the driving components of an asset's expected excess return. Recent research established a novel methodology for consistent parameter estimation within this framework, only requiring a large cross-section but not a long …

A Framework For Building Strong School Culture: A Case Study On The Transformative Impacts Of Ethics Education On High School Students, Peter Cohen

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Recent education reforms to boost school accountability have overlooked the importance of school culture and have prioritized standardized academic achievement. The literature has highlighted the ways in which school culture can improve academic and behavioral outcomes for students, however, very little attention has been paid to the role of moral development in building strong school culture. The literature often neglects iterations of moral development other than character education, such as ethics education, as effective strategies for supporting students and their school environments. In an effort to fill these gaps, this thesis utilizes an auto ethnographic case study to analyze the …

Graveyard Shifts: Unearthing Identity Myths And The Retro Rebrand, Rebecca Puno

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay examines a trend in brand identity at the time of writing wherein icons of several decades past are resurrected to play to nostalgic feelings associated with a product or service. It begins with a case study of iconography for popular pizza chain logos through several decades alongside definitions of advertising models employed at the time, concluding with the axioms of cultural branding theory. The next section will reexamine the terminology alongside Roland Barthes writing on mythology as a language of semiotics passed through time. The text will then go on to draw parallels between the American fascination with …

Nostalgic Neighbors: Engaging The Single-Story Of Wholesomeness, Jeffrey Johnson

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

In exploring our pasts, memories aren’t made real until they’re articulated out loud. This critical essay offers a meditation on meaning-finding activities of the twentieth century. I offer a definition of the word wholesome, as it exists as both an aesthetic, and as a way to find personal connection with others. As an Illustrator and Storyteller, I carry a responsibility for depicting a way that the world may be remembered. When our stories paint only a picture of a triumphant and moral people we do not only a disservice to the struggles of those same people, but also to the …

Humanizing Affordable Housing: A Public Health Centered Approach To Affordable Housing, Eiman Mohamed

Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design Theses & Dissertations

This thesis focuses on exploring housing as a determinant of health; thus, the aim is to investigate the historical and current influence of housing design and city planning on occupant health and population health in metropolitan cities. The thesis will primarily examine how housing affects the health of low-income individuals. Historically and presently, this demographic has been disproportionately affected by health issues stemming from overcrowding, substandard housing design, declining neighborhood conditions, and environmental inequities. The goal is to discern the dimensions and standards for healthy housing against which designers and planners can define health outcomes. By acknowledging the factors that …

Ramble: To Wander & Wayfind In Image & Text, Charlotte Fleming

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

A pedestrian, an international traveler, and a bored-out-of-his-mind bus commuter take note of their surroundings. What do they notice? What do they find? Why does it matter? With these questions in mind, I take three works as my traveling companions: Robert Weaver’s A Pedestrian View: The Vogelman Diary (2012), Weng Pixin’s “Argentina Diaries” (2020), and Peter Arkle’s Dreaming on the 349 (2023).

This essay places these works in conversation with ideas of space/place (Yi-Fu Tuan), slow looking (Shari Tishman), and mapping artistic practice (Anne West). Ultimately, this essay considers how illustrated works wander through and wayfind meaning in sequences of …

Seeing Is Believing: Observing Trans Spirituality Through The Smith-Waite Tarot, Phoebe Santalla

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

In 1909 the Rider Company published the Smith-Waite Tarot deck which featured 78 illustrated cards by Pamela Colman Smith. With heavy use of appropriated and ambiguous symbology, the Smith-Waite deck became a meditation tool for realizing alternative realities. By observing the history of the deck, analyzing Smith’s approach to illustration, and retracing the counterculture occult explosion in the 1970s, this essay argues that the Smith-Waite deck is an object the reflects the queered body and self. The modern, trans-contentious, Western political climate creates an environment that obscures the fact that transgender people exist beyond the medicalization of their bodies. To …

Toward An Artifact-Forward Feminist Design History, Celeste Caldwell

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

Feminist Design History is a field abundantly sown, with lots of room for growth. This essay digs through seminal and contemporary works of feminist design history to learn how to contribute to the field most thoughtfully. I find that future scholarship must meet four criteria in order to effectively meet the goals of feminist design. The proposed research criteria are to cut across definitions of craft and design, challenge the centrality of individuals, draw from a broad pool of resources, and study objects in and outside of the public sphere. I use these criteria to advocate for design research which …

How Visual Narrative Can Elevate Immigrant Food, Yiting Chai

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

Throughout the history of immigration, visual cultural products have provided channels for them to express their voices in North America, helping audiences understand immigrant culture and situations to promote social equality. Photography and cookbooks, as traditional expressions of food art, provide insight into the vitality of food and the way people treat food.

Graphic memoir and social engagement, as emerging categories, have emerged in the post-pandemic period. These diverse creative forms discuss individuals and food deep connections, such as interactions between people and community or a sense of belonging. For immigrant groups, Food is the quintessence of human existence, which …

Cliffhanger, Micah Mickles

MFA in Visual Art

I am Micah Mickles, a mixed-media visual artist in St. Louis, Missouri. My artwork is deeply rooted in my personal experiences and serves as a memorial and monument to counteract the enduring effects of grief and loss. What sets my work apart is the transformative impact of my everyday encounters, inspired by my 14 years of experience working at Trader Joe's. These encounters have led me to reflect on my profound connections with diverse communities. By delving into the hidden narratives of mundane materials encountered in the workplace, I prompt a reexamination of convenience and supply chain origins. Inspired by …

Virtual Bodies: Probing Fake Flesh, Emily Elhoffer

MFA in Visual Art

This thesis explores the fluid and often elusive concept of the body as mediated through technology and art, questioning the boundaries between the physical and virtual. By investigating the interactions of cultural ideals, technological mediation, and material experimentation, the research delves into how contemporary art practices can challenge and expand our understanding of embodiment.

Central to this exploration is the use of varied mediums such as sculpture, digital imagery, and installation art to create what I term "virtual bodies"—conceptual entities that exist at the intersection of imagination and material reality. These creations often reflect and critique societal norms regarding beauty, …

Cover, Uncover: The Changing Face Of Architecture On Locust Street, Cora Trout

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

Locust Street was once a vibrant banking and commercial district in downtown St. Louis. Today, it is an untidy collection of new, old, dilapidated, semi-intact, restored, and vacant buildings punctuated by crumbling parking lots and garages threatening imminent collapse. To understand why, we must reassemble Locust Street. As St. Louis watched its wealthy, white population flock to the suburbs at mid-century, the revitalization of the decaying urban center became one of the city’s primary preoccupations. Beginning in the early 1950s, a calculated and conscious physical transformation of the central business district began, lasting through the 1960s. This essay, which integrates …

The Land Of Reverie, Sarah Moon

MFA in Visual Art

As children we are fascinated by the mythical. Imagining the attractive or even the disturbing serves as an escape from reality. By painting unicorns, vast surreal landscapes, and imaginative playscapes my work expands the white cube gallery into an immersive extension of my imagination. By viewing the canvas as a portal into a world where limitations dissolve, I paint acidic colors, fluid boundaries, and a malleable reality.

My studio practice is inspired by artists who experiment with color and scale like Kenny Scharf, Katharina Grosse, and Pipilotti Rist. In my colorful, large-scale works I explore the transformative power of play …

Fabrication Of Two-Dimensional Material-Based Nano-Capacitors Using Bismuth Selenite (Bi2seo5) To Study Its Dielectric Properties, Major Kc

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the demand for high-performance micro and nanodevices has surged, necessitating the exploration of novel dielectric materials to replace conventional silicon dioxide. Following the continuation of the Moorse law, as device dimensions reduce to nanoscale levels, the properties of silicon dioxide can degrade, leading to issues such as increased leakage current and reduced gate control. Materials with superior electrical properties, such as higher dielectric constant, lower leakage current, and better thermal stability allowing for the development of faster, more efficient, and more reliable devices are in higher demand than ever. Two-dimensional layered semiconductor nanomaterials represented by compounds such …

Integrating Implantable Bci Devices Within Bci2000 Using A Unified Framework And Toolchain For In-Vivo Research, Dhruva Mehta

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The field of neurotechnology research has a bright and promising future as more devices are created. However, there are still many gaps in the field as the potential for neuromodulation grows. Devices such as the Micro-Leads StimZ system and the Ripple Grapevine/Summit system help bridge that gap by allowing for a broader variety of closed-loop neuromodulation experiments to be implemented thanks to their portability and versatility. Despite these devices being on the market, however, there needs to be a method to collaborate and interact with them across multiple research institutions. BCI2000 helps to address that by creating a standardized working …

Goin' Down Swinging: Queer Fury, Mad Green

Graduate School of Art Theses

How can kickboxing uplift a community? How can Queer rage be utilized in community building and artmaking?

As a Queer artist, my work is inspired by my own experiences. Through drawing, printmaking, photography, video, performance, sculpture, and social practice, I dissect my violent upbringing and its lingering threads in my adult life. In this essay, I discuss the two most prominent features of my art practice: Fight and Community. I navigate these ideas through past works, such as a performance piece of me destroying a news article, a short film about institutional homophobia through aliens and immaculate conception, and most …

Laughing In The Wrong Places: Daniel Clowes And The Danger Of Nostalgia, Liam Cassidy

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay explores the relationship between art objects and our past, narrowing in on nostalgia as a malevolent force in American culture that will lead to its eventual downfall. Focusing on Daniel Clowes’ latest graphic novel Monica as a case study, I demonstrate how graphic stories like this seek to reflect rather than interpret, and are often more closely aligned to the creator’s biography than an attempt at broad strokes or political pandering. The essay uses interviews with Clowes at various points of his career, reviews of Monica, academic essays on Clowes, as well as articles and books dissecting …

Welcome Home Stranger: The Evolution & Assimilation Of The Queer Monster, Dee Cea

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

The queer monster has been a staple in fiction for ages. The “other” aspect that defines monstrosity is naturally paired with the ostracized queer figure. How better to accent a demon, than with the demonized? This essay explores why queerness clings to the monstrous, and how this dynamic has shifted over time. When does monstrosity feed into queerness, and when does queerness enhance the monstrous? Using the character Mystique from the long-standing X-Men franchise as a case study, I compare how her strange appearance and abilities have villainized her queer subtext, and yet how they have come to strengthen her …

Spirit, Art, And Care, Jordan Geiger

MFA in Visual Art

In textiles, installations, and interactive performances, I explore how spiritual practice becomes art practice. My experiences as a hospice volunteer, musician, and Buddhist inform my work’s focus on contemplating impermanence as a path to spiritual transformation. Artmaking is a vehicle for exploring the nature of my reality, and both communicating what I find and sharing the path itself. I take inspiration from mystic/artists such as Hilma af Klint, Sengai Gibon, and Agnes Martin, who have sought to expound the path of awakening in artistic form.

In content as well as process, my work explores notions of empathy, awareness, ceremony, and …

Evaluating Neuroimaging Modalities In The A/T/N Framework: Single And Combined Fdg-Pet And T1-Weighted Mri For Alzheimer’S Diagnosis, Peiwang Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

With the escalating prevalence of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the need for early and precise diagnostic techniques is rising. This study delves into the comparative efficacy of Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) and T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in diagnosing AD, where the integration of multimodal models is becoming a trend. Leveraging data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), we employed linear Support Vector Machines (SVM) to assess the diagnostic potential of these modalities, both individually and in combination, within the AD continuum. Our analysis, under the A/T/N framework's 'N' category, reveals that FDG-PET consistently outperforms T1w-MRI across …

Role Of Integrase-Pp2a Interaction In Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type-1 Replication And Pathogenesis, Shayna Turbin

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic retrovirus that causes multiple disorders, including adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. HTLV-1 retroviral integrase binds to the regulatory B’56γ subunit of the host cell Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Integrase contains a highly conserved LxxIxE motif that is essential for binding, which increases integration efficiency and facilitates HTLV-1 hijack of host cell machinery. We aim to understand how mutations introduced in the highly conserved binding site can affect viral particle production and infectivity. We transfected 729B human lymphoblastoid cells and 293T cells with mutant and wildtype virus. Mutations L213A, …

The Cicadas Are Always Beneath Our Feet, Mary Kate Charles

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

In an era of exposure to thousands of images every day with practically unlimited access to the world’s archive of art, this essay explores the legacy of the productions of medieval convents and the women who would encounter only a few art objects each year as documented by historians Chiara Frugoni, Jeffrey Hamburger, and Sharon Strocchia. In this era of visual overconsumption, this essay proposes the body of work, Where the Cicadas Burrow as an archive utilizing alternative printing processes to pull forward the tradition of liturgical arts many religious women would have participated in historically. Operating within a contemporary …

Investigating Murine Uterine Tissue Dynamics: Biomechanical And Histological Perspectives On Postpartum Involution And Scar-Induced Remodeling, Savannah Elizabeth Chatman

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

During pregnancy, the uterus undergoes structural and mechanical transformations to withstand the demands of a successful delivery. In cases where vaginal birth is not feasible, a Cesarean section (c-section), which involves a transverse abdominal incision, is used to facilitate delivery of the fetus and placenta¹. Following the procedure, the uterus and abdominal tissue are carefully sutured to support postpartum recovery, leading to uterine scarring at the incision site^1,2. Understanding the relationship between uterine scar integrity, postpartum involution, and the biomechanics of uterine tissue is a crucial step toward predicting the risk of uterine rupture during future …

Comparing Preparedness By Midwives And Obgyns: Should The United States Implement A Midwifery Model Of Care?, Abigail Matthews

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Honors Papers

In the wake of high maternal and infant mortality rates in the United States, there is a need for childbirth care reform, and investigating the methods with which individuals prepare for this life event grants us insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the current system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact on preparedness between individuals that used OB/GYNs and those that used midwives to determine how different practitioner types were perceived by their patients. I conduct a qualitative and quantitative survey of people that have given birth in the United States and analyze the results …

Environment And Response Of 3d-Encapsulated Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Mechanical Loading, Augustus Greenwood

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the micromechanical environment induced when cyclically compressing hydrogels via finite element modeling and experimentally on the impact of loading on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) when encapsulated withing 3D hydrogel matrices. Degenerative joint diseases, characterized by cartilage degradation, present significant challenges due to cartilage's limited self-repair capacity. Innovative approaches, including stem cell-based therapies and engineered biomaterials, have emerged as promising strategies for cartilage repair and regeneration. This work specifically investigates the calibration of a bioreactor, the uniformity of load response across the hydrogel constructs via finite element modeling (FEM), and the stress response of MSCs subjected to various …

Numerical Simulations Of Supersonic/ Hypersonic Flows In Compression Corners And A Hypersonic Flow Study Of Atmospheric Entry Of Mars Science Laboratory Capsule, Dexter Allen

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis consists of two related parts. The first part is the study of supersonic/hypersonic flow in compression corners. The compression corners are simple geometries but rich in flow-features that can be challenging for accurate prediction of their flow fields in high-speed compressible flow using the Reynold-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunction with a turbulence model. At higher degrees of corner angles, there exists a shock-boundary layer interaction region which includes a significant recirculation zone in the corner. In this thesis, experimentally available test cases for compression corner at Mach 3, 8, and 11 at various corner angles are modeled …