Digital Commons Network^™

Development And Test Of An Automatic Mass Balancing System For Cal Poly's Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator, Cameron B. Zorio

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator (SADS) is an ongoing project to develop an air-bearing platform capable of recreating on-orbit rotational dynamics with near frictionless and torque-free rotations. However, any offset between the platform's center of rotation and its center of mass will introduce a torque due to gravity.

This thesis presents the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of a low-cost, automatic mass balancing system for the SADS to address this challenge. A new modular sliding mass system was developed that overcomes issues faced in previous iterations of the SADS, providing real-time positional control of the masses and a …

Marsanywhere: Dataset And Cross-View Diffusion Model For Satellite-To-Ground View Synthesis With Mars Data, Benjamin T. Hinchliff

Master's Theses

Satellite-to-ground view synthesis aims to create a realistic ground view image from a corresponding satellite view image. This is a well-studied problem for street level imagery, with good results being achieved by using modern image synthesis techniques such as diffusion models. However, despite the public availability of satellite and ground level imagery on Mars, these techniques have yet to be applied to the domain due to difficulties in collating and processing the data into a usable form. We address this deficiency by creating a dataset consisting of ground view panorama imagery from the Perseverance rover, along with associated satellite view …

Why The Long Face? The Distribution And Niche Of The Imperiled Narrow-Faced Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys Venustus), Garrett L. Gimbel

Master's Theses

Distribution models provide a practical use case of connecting ecological niche theory with species’ occurrence and assemblages. By explicitly linking Hutchinson’s “niche space” with geographic space researchers can gain valuable information on a species’ niche characteristics and interactions, thereby informing conservation and management practices. The narrow-faced kangaroo rat (Dipodomys venustus) is a highly understudied kangaroo rat species endemic to the central coast of California and is an ideal species to explore niche theory in distribution modeling. Three subspecies are currently recognized: The Santa Cruz kangaroo rat (D. v. venustus), the elephant-eared kangaroo rat (D. v. …

Using Hydraulic And Hydrologic Modeling To Determine Scour At Toro Creek Under Climate Change Conditions, Gabriel E. Alaniz

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates bridge scour at the Toro Creek crossing of Highway 1 in Morro Bay, California, under present conditions and future climate conditions with more frequent extreme rainfall events. California infrastructure is becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme storm events and increased intense precipitation events brought by climate change. This analysis focuses on the calculation of scour for both the northbound and southbound spans. Highway 1 plays a vital role in California’s coastal transportation infrastructure by carrying more than 20,000 vehicles daily (Caltrans, 2017). In this thesis, a hydrological model (HEC-HMS) is used to simulate runoff under present-day and …

The Edge Of The World: An Examination Of The Wild West In California, 1840-1880, Chloe J. Cushing

Master's Theses

“The Edge of the World” revolves around the history of the Wild West in California through the lens of Richard Maxwell Brown’s Western War of Incorporation theory. Rather than being a mythology sensationalized by Hollywood and literature, for the Golden State, the Wild West was a very real and tangible part of its early-American era, characterized by U.S. imperialism, high murder rates, anti-authoritarianism, and other rampant forms of chaos that affected the state for generations. By examining the conditions and effects of the late Mexican period, the Gold Rush, Confederate sympathizers, and the Southern Pacific Railroad, this thesis highlights the …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Johansen High School, Damaris N. Perdue

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) are a foundational component of agricultural education, yet inconsistent implementation and assessment practices can limit their instructional impact. This project presents the development and implementation of a standardized SAE project framework designed to support equitable, work-based learning experiences across a secondary agricultural education department. The framework includes a unified student guide, analytic grading rubric, reflective components, and aligned assessment tools that emphasize accurate recordkeeping, skill development, and professional communication. By establishing consistent expectations for annual SAE completion across all agricultural courses, this project promotes student accountability, clarity, and fairness while strengthening alignment with the National FFA …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report- Liberty High School, Brittany N. Johnson

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This document documents the AGED 539 Internship in Agricultural Education and examines the Liberty High School–Brentwood FFA and Agriculture Department’s alignment with the three-component model of agricultural education: classroom instruction, FFA leadership development, and Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE). Grounded in experiential learning theory, the report reflects on program strengths, challenges, and growth across all twelve California Career Technical Education (CTE) Quality Criteria, supported by narrative reflection and evidence. The internship project focused on developing a formal FFA Program of Activities (POA) to improve chapter organization, goal-setting, and long-term sustainability. Overall, the project highlights intentional program planning and leadership development as …

Beyond The Csu Ai Initiative Rollout: Exploring The Continued Uses, Gratifications, And Literacy Of Generative Artificial Intelligence Integration At Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Marshall Piros, Kaylie Marrs

Communication Studies

This case study examines the use of ChatGPT on the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (hereafter referred to as Cal Poly or Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) campus as part of the system-wide CSU AI Initiative. This is a follow-up study to previous work in which the researchers examined AI usage and gratifications during the early rollout of the CSU AI Initiative during Spring 2025. Using a qualitative approach, we used semi-structured interviews (N = 24) to gather in-depth perspectives on AI usage, gratifications, concerns, and definitions of AI literacy from students and faculty. Findings indicate that while …

Mozgus, Damian Cerda, Madison Lopez

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The indie game market is flooded with genre experiments, yet few successfully combine fast-paced action with meaningful strategic decision-making. Our project aims to fill this gap by creating a game that fuses top-down action combat with resource-management tycoon mechanics. We found that in many games, the management phases lack mechanical stakes. Our goal was to intertwine these systems so that choices made in one phase meaningfully impact the other.

Integrating Machine Learning With An Fps Aim Trainer For Optimal Sensitivity Finding, Sharan Krishna

Computer Science and Software Engineering

First-person shooter (FPS) games often demand high levels of skill in aiming, which leads players to look for external tools to improve their performance. This is where the concepts of aim training and aim trainers come in, becoming an easily accessible outside source for players to strengthen their performance with custom scenarios outside a set game. While many aim trainers exist, they offer limited insight into player performance metrics or adaptability to varying aiming styles. Furthermore, most existing aim trainers lack a standardized way of correlating aim skill with real-world performance or personalized feedback. This aim trainer addresses these limitations …

Life Cycle Assessment Of A Prefabricated Modular Timber Building, Bryan Mai

Construction Management

Traditional concrete construction carries a high carbon footprint, motivating interest in lower-impact alternatives such as prefabricated modular timber systems. This project conducts a process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) using OpenLCA to evaluate the environmental impacts of a modular timber building. Material quantities from major processes were modeled as flow inputs and converted into standardized OpenLCA units. Impact categories—including acidification potential, human toxicity, and energy/resource use—were analyzed to determine which materials and processes contribute most to overall environmental burden. Results show that transportation and plumbing materials drive the largest acidification impacts, while interior finishes dominate human toxicity. This LCA establishes a …

Building Kit For K-8 Education: An Introduction To Construction Fundamentals, Marc Joynt

Construction Management

Introducing construction concepts to young students requires tools that are both engaging and easy to use, which led to the development of a laser-cut building kit designed for K–8 classrooms. The process began with hand-drawn sketches to establish a simple, age-appropriate structure. The design was then modeled in AutoCAD, where each individual component was drafted for fabrication. After completing the digital model, the files were transferred into Rhino and organized by layer to ensure accurate communication with the laser cutters used to produce the final basswood pieces. Throughout the project, challenges such as material limitations, tolerance adjustments, and simplifying complex …

Multi-Cater Pack Heat Sealer, Ivan Medina-Zepeda, Laurent Hirakata, Donovan Furtado, Cody Ngan

Mechanical Engineering

The Multi-Cater Pack Heat Sealer was developed to support Achievement House, a non-profit organization that employs adults with intellectual and physical disabilities and is facing increasing demand for sealed cater packs. Existing single-pack sealers limited both throughput and accessibility, which led to the creation of a 3D printed attachment for a 40-inch impulse heat sealer. The attachment allows nine packs to be sealed at the same time and includes a tray-style trapdoor that allows for quick unloading. The need for accessibility and usability guided the design throughout the process. Alignment guides improve placement consistency, and the ergonomic layout accommodates both …

Educational Ai Agents In Vr, Jake Eichenseer

Graphic Communication

AI powered educational agents are programs that are capable of interpreting their environment and then making decisions based on that (Cordova-Esparza, 2025). Agentic programs like these can be helpful in an educational setting because they can be used to provide personalized feedback to students, assist instructors with grading, and adapt learning materials in real time to match each student’s progress. However, there are a multitude of concerns raised by agentic programs as well, causing experts to consider the ethical implications of integrating them into school curricula. The Cal Poly Graphic Communication Department wanted to study how participants would respond when …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report- Mount Whitney High School, Matthew C. Medeiros

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This project reviews the Mount Whitney High School Agricultural Education Program. Through evaluation of our program's needs, there was a lack of chapter promotion outside of social media. A chapter website was created to highlight Classroom, FFA, and SAE opportunities available to students in our program.

Short-Arc Angles-Only Initial Orbit Determination For Leo And Geo Objects Using A Genetic Algorithm, Joseph R. Piini

Master's Theses

An ever-growing interest in utilizing space for scientific, commercial, and defense applications has led to an exponential rise in orbital debris recent years. With this sharp increase in space objects comes a greatly increased risk of potential collisions, necessitating an increase in Space Situational Awareness. In order to best mitigate the risk of future collisions in an increasingly congested space environment, it is crucial to be able to accurately determine the orbits of these new objects for trajectory tracking. This process is initial orbit determination (IOD), and is especially difficult when only observation angles are available for short observation times. …

Forecasting Floral Demand To Reduce Operational Cost And Optimize Production, Mackenzi Saleh Mehlberg-Smith

Master's Theses

The floral industry faces rising operational costs, increasingly strict environmental regulations, and high market volatility, all of which threaten the sustainability of flower production. Accurate demand forecasting and production planning are therefore critical to minimize waste and reduce costs while maintaining competitiveness.

This thesis develops mathematical models for optimization, forecasting, and production planning in the floral industry, extending recent work on production planning and trapezoidal demand modeling. We integrate time-series forecasting methods with optimization techniques from production planning and operations research to model both short-term demand fluctuations and medium-term capacity constraints. The mathematical framework links linear and nonlinear optimization, time-series …

Accelerating Relationship Discovery In Chronic Lower Back Pain Through Knowledge Graph And Ontology Enhanced Large Language Models, Damon Lin

Master's Theses

Chronic lower back pain (cLBP) is a widespread public health burden linked to anxiety, depression, and opioid addiction. Interventions aimed at treating cLBP have shown minimal improvements in pain outcomes, leading researchers to reexamine our understanding of cLBP through constructing a causal model. However, constructing causal models through Randomized Controlled Trials are often unfeasible, and relying on domain expertise requires extensive and time-consuming research, posing a serious bottleneck for designing effective treatments. To accelerate this process, we apply Knowledge Graphs, Ontologies, and Large Language Models (LLMs) to aid researchers in determining possible causal relationships. First, we demonstrate how LLMs can …

Dynamic Modeling And Simulation Of A Power Generation Steam Rankine Cycle For A Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor Nuclear Power Plant, William R. Ton

Master's Theses

Nuclear Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactors (FHRs) have the potential to greatly improve nuclear technology in terms of safety and cost. By combining molten salt coolant technology from the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) and TRISO fuel technology from the Very High Temperature Gas Reactor (VHTR), FHRs may operate at significantly lower pressures than Light Water Reactors (LWRs) and with a more robust fuel source that is excellent at containing fission products. However, as no FHR has been built, there are still many design questions to address. This thesis uses transient computer modeling and simulation to investigate how an FHR could potentially …

A Comparative Evaluation Of Feedback Strategies For Enhancing Student Software Test Suite Writing Outcomes, Ashton Alonge

Master's Theses

Background and Context

Software testing is a fundamental component of computer science education, forming the basis for students’ ability to ensure program correctness and reliability. Despite its importance, many students struggle to design test cases that effectively expose faults and achieve meaningful test coverage. Traditional instructional approaches often emphasize code coverage metrics such as line or branch coverage, but these metrics may not adequately capture the quality of student tests. Mutation analysis, which measures how well tests detect small, artificial faults (mutants) introduced into the program, offers a potentially richer measure of test effectiveness. However, little is known about how …

Real Time Markerless 3d Hand Tracking For Intuitive Robotic Arm Control, Dylan G. Featherson

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a real-time, markerless motion-capture system for intuitive control of a multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. Using two synchronized RGB cameras and stereo-vision triangulation, the system reconstructs the three-dimensional position of a user’s hand without the need for physical markers or wearable sensors. The reconstructed 3D coordinates are mapped directly to the end-effector position of the Quanser QArm, a four-degree-of-freedom educational manipulator. Developed entirely in Python, the system integrates stereo camera calibration, 3D hand tracking with MediaPipe, coordinate transformation, and inverse kinematics into a unified real-time control pipeline operating at approximately 200 Hz. Calibration is performed through a checkerboard-based stereo …

Generalized Detection Of Animal Behavior Using Accelerometers, Alexander J. Arrieta

Master's Theses

Animal mounted sensors are becoming increasingly used to passively monitor both domestic and wild animals. Advances in lightweight accelerometer and GPS technology have allowed many animals to be fitted with high accuracy sensors for extended periods of time. This leads to new opportunities to study animal behavior without direct observation. However, interpreting the raw data is difficult due to the high volume and missing context of the information. Machine learning techniques excel at extracting information from raw data streams and are excellent candidates for processing the sensor data. However, due to large variance in how different animals execute the same …

Predicting Newsworthiness Of California Bill Discussions, Venkata Kedarnath Chaturvedula

Master's Theses

Among various California bill hearings, it is crucial to identify which hearings are most likely to receive media coverage, as this highlights the importance of the bill and the hearing, while also underscoring its societal impact. Digital Democracy, established at Cal Poly’s Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, provides users access to a distinctive dataset and information about state legislative committee hearings, hearing transcripts, assets, bill information, etc.

This thesis presents a machine learning framework for predicting whether California legislative bills are likely to receive media coverage. Drawing on a dataset of legislative ”tip sheets” provided by Digital Democracy …

Per- And Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances Fate Across California Wastewater Treatment Plants: A Meta-Analysis Of Formation, Distribution, And Persistence, Elizabeth Reineke

Master's Theses

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent contaminants that move through municipal and industrial wastewater systems with limited attenuation. As a result, they are increasingly detected in drinking water supplies. Despite growing regulatory concern, a systems-level understanding of PFAS behavior across multiple treatment facilities and watershed settings remains incomplete. This study compiled influent, effluent, and biosolids datasets from more than one hundred California wastewater treatment plants to evaluate PFAS occurrence, transformation, and partitioning across diverse treatment configurations. Analytical steps included calculating removal efficiencies, assessing precursor-to-product oxidation, evaluating co-contaminant correlations, and grouping facilities by process design to quantify configuration-specific fate patterns. …

Building Roads To Engagement: A Survey Of Post-Secondary Community Engagement Education In Transportation, Meghan E. Kolin

Master's Theses

Community engagement is a critical part of the urban planning process for both academics and practitioners, but transportation planning’s significant technical knowledge requirements and focus on special interest groups make such engagement difficult. As such, college- and graduate-level transportation planning programs must include significant education about public participation practices. However, little research exists regarding how community engagement is taught in these programs or how well this education prepares students for real-world practice. This research is aimed at filling this gap by answering two questions: first, how transportation-focused post-secondary programs in the United States conduct community engagement education; and second, whether …

Hallucination Techniques For Self-Supervised Synthetic Datasets For Mobile Robots, Wyatt D. Colburn

Master's Theses

Classical techniques in autonomous navigation struggle in tightly constrained spaces. Machine learning has been shown to perform better in these difficult environments but most techniques require large amounts of navigation experience for training. Using a new machine learning paradigm learning from hallucination (LfH), training data can be collected in a safe environment and not require supervision. Data is collected in real time while an agent performs a random walk in free space, supervision is not required as there are no obstacles for the robot to run into. After a random walk a post processing pipeline will hallucinate a safety corridor …

Birds In Changing Landscapes: Community Diversity And Breeding Phenology, Lindsay Peria

Master's Theses

Humans are altering the environment in varied and widespread ways. Increasing urban and agricultural development causes changes to habitat and resource availability as well as changes to the sensory environment via light and noise pollution. Climate change also causes more extreme temperature anomalies, storms, and droughts that challenge birds in a multitude of ways. In this thesis, we assessed these impacts of these changes on a local and continental scale. In the first chapter, we assessed the impact of natural, anthropic, and structural characteristics of viticultural land on both taxonomic and structural avian diversity. Loss of habitat from agriculture is …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 11/18/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Minutes, 11/18/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Minutes, 11/04/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.