Digital Commons Network^™

Using Noninvasive Calibrated Cuff Plethysmography To Observe The Effects Of Lifestyle Habits On Arterial Compliance, Joshua M. Whitaker

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular disease remains as a leading cause of death for both sexes and across all racial backgrounds. Continuing to research causes, early predictors, and preventative actions are paramount to ensuring that cardiovascular disease starts to decrease in its activity. Endothelial dysfunction is the earliest known predictor of cardiovascular disease, therefore investigating early detection methods of endothelial dysfunction can improve health outcomes. This study revolves around a non-invasive calibrated cuff device that uses the principles of segmental plethysmography and oscilliometry to measure arterial compliance of baseline and induced hyperemic conditions in human subjects to determine how well arteries vasodilate in response …

Performance Enhancement For Rufa: Rapid Urban Forest Assessment, Nicholas Tan

Master's Theses

Urban forests are crucial to the livability and resilience of cities, offering critical ecosystem benefits such as air quality enhancement, temperature regulation, and biodiversity. Managing said urban forests is essential to ensure their sustainability and adaptability to rapidly changing environmental and climate conditions. The Rapid Urban Forest Assessment (RUFA) tool was developed to address the need for a standardized approach to evaluating and comparing urban and community forestry programs. By analyzing and aggregating tree-specific data across California, such as canopy cover, tree counts, and diversity scores, RUFA assigns a comprehensive urban forestry score for each city. This score allows for …

Flower Color Variation And Its Maintenance: Experimental Ecology Of Serpentine-Adapted Leptosiphon Parviflorus Benth. (Polemoniaceae), Magdalene S. Lo

Master's Theses

Environmental heterogeneity can impose fluctuating selection pressures on species across space and time. If variations of a trait provide fitness benefits in certain environmental conditions but not others, these fitness tradeoffs under fluctuating selection could be a means of maintaining intraspecific variation. A common type of intraspecific variation is the production of anthocyanins, pigments responsible for red, pink, and blue colors in plants and that can also provide protection from abiotic stressors, such as water limitation and heavy metals. Leptosiphon parviflorus Benth. (Polemoniaceae, variable linanthus) is an annual wildflower whose individuals produce either pink or white flowers, and both flower …

An Analysis Of Neuroidal Memory Formation Within D. Melanogaster, Jerry Chang

Master's Theses

The Neuroidal model poses a neurobiologically plausible theory for modeling the brain. This symbolic network has been shown to capture realistic memorization behaviors using the JOIN algorithm. The model has also been recently improved by incorporating Watts-Strogatz small-worlds within its base structure. From the efforts of neuroscience researchers, we have access to the Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) fruit fly’s connectome, which has been found to also contain small-worlds in this thesis. By synthesizing the Ocellar Ganglion (OCG) region of Drosophila, we compare a digitized version of a real-world brain with an instance of the Neuroidal model. In this thesis, we …

Reverse Design Of Solid Rocket Grain Geometry, Yechan Kang

Master's Theses

The reverse design of solid rocket motors remains a challenging process due to the nonlinear relationship between the grain geometry and the internal ballistics. The reverse design process involves obtaining an optimal grain geometry given a target performance curve set by mission requirements, which is the inverse problem of the forward design. The purpose of this study is to assess the validity and implementation of neural network and simulated annealing algorithms to perform the reverse design process. A modified phase field model of the eikonal equation is derived to simulate the evolution of combustion surfaces over time, enabling burn back …

Abiotic Stress Impacts On Macrophomina Root Rot And Nano-Encapsulated Citrus Oils To Control Fruit And Foliar Pathogens Of Strawberry, Marina J. Gutierrez

Master's Theses

Disease remains one of the major constraints to the productivity and economic success of the California strawberry industry. The most important soilborne pathogen is Macrophomina phaseolina, causing Macrophomina root rot (MRR). The most economically significant airborne pathogens include Botrytis cinerea, causing Botrytis fruit rot (BFR), and Podosphaera aphanis, causing powdery mildew (PM).

Disease severity of MRR is highly dependent on environmental factors. Therefore, understanding which abiotic stressors contribute most to disease development is crucial for effective management. A two-year field experiment at Cal Poly, SLO (2024 and 2025) evaluated the effects of drought stress, two elevated chloride …

Cal Poly Semester Conversion Time Capsule, Maximus La Via, Matthieu Gol, Viki Sarmasi, Tuyetthuc Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering

As Cal Poly transitions from the quarter system to the semester system, aligning itself with the other California universities, the idea has been proposed to commemorate this moment in the history of the university with a time capsule. The time capsule will be on display on the first floor of the library for a few years and later moved into the library’s archive room for permanent storage. 50 years after the completion of the semester conversion project, the time capsule will be opened. This project aims to create a secure and aesthetic device capable of storing and protecting memorabilia from …

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. …

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 …

Psychological Effects Of Health Disparities: A Multi-Identity Understanding, Shayda Shokooh, Kiana Hosseinzadeh, Olivia Copeland, Katie Wong

Psychology and Child Development

The United States has a long history of public health inequities which continue to impact individuals based on their varying intersectional identities. These systemic obstacles often impede access to healthcare, comprehensive treatment by physicians, and preventative care, among other factors. Disparities within healthcare consequently result in decreased overall well-being and negative psychological impacts, based on identity. We reviewed a variety of academic peer-reviewed studies, both empirical and systematic, investigating three identity factors: racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomic status, and cognitive disabilities, and examining how these facets influence a person’s mental state and experience of healthcare. We analyzed each of these …

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.

Establishing Procedures For Primary Human Myoblast Cell Culture, Erica Duffy

Biomedical Engineering

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) affects an estimated 200 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of amputation in the United States. PAD is characterized by atherosclerotic narrowing of arteries, resulting in ischemia from reduced blood flow to distal tissues. Although surgical and percutaneous interventions can restore perfusion, fewer than 50% of patients experience sustained benefit, highlighting the need for alternative therapeutic strategies. One promising approach is promoting arteriogenesis, the growth and outward remodeling of pre-existing collateral vessels that improve blood flow around the occluded arteries. Arteriogenesis is regulated by regenerative, M2-polarized macrophages, making macrophage polarization a key therapeutic target. …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

Associations Between Feed Efficiency And Feeding Behavior In Yearling Angus Bulls In A Competitive Environment, Amelia Katz

Master's Theses

Feed efficiency in beef cattle is a complex trait shaped by physiological, behavioral, and social factors that influence how animals access and utilize feed resources. This study examined feed efficiency classification and how it is influenced by feeding behavior, competitive interactions, and bunk approach patterns in yearling Angus bulls housed in a drylot over two years. Bulls were grouped into high and low feed efficiency categories using residual feed intake and feed conversion ratio within pen and year (n = 40 per year; n = 40 per treatment). Continuous electronic monitoring quantified feeder visitation, feeding duration, intake, and rate. A …

Serum Concentrations Of Inflammatory Markers And Selected Nutrient Metabolites In Holstein And Jersey Cows Across The Transition Period, Avery Orr

Master's Theses

The transition period, spanning the weeks surrounding parturition, requires dairy cows to undergo synchronized metabolic, endocrine, and immunological adjustments that support the onset of lactation but also heighten disease susceptibility. Although individual inflammatory or metabolic biomarkers have been extensively studied, the integrated immunometabolic dynamics that occur across this period and the difference between breeds is not fully understood. The objective of this study was to characterize longitudinal patterns in key nutrient metabolites and inflammatory markers in Holstein and Jersey cows and assess how these systems interact across the transition period.

A total of 63 Holstein and Jersey cows were sampled …

Testing For Local Adaptation In Sympatric Monkeyflowers Growing In Serpentine Seeps And Adjacent Rock Outcrops, Avin Niknafs

Master's Theses

Divergent selection across heterogeneous environments can drive ecological differentiation and the evolution of locally adapted populations, even when gene flow occurs. We tested for local adaptation between two sympatric monkeyflowers, Erythranthe guttata and E. serpentinicola (formerly Mimulus), which co-occur on the central coast of California. Erythranthe guttata is a perennial species primarily found in moist serpentine seeps, whereas E. serpentinicola is an annual species restricted to adjacent serpentine rock outcrops. Using a reciprocal transplant experiment with second-generation, greenhouse-derived seed, we quantified germination, survival, and reproductive success across contrasting microhabitats. We further evaluated the relative contributions of species, lineage, …

Executive Committee - Agenda, 10/21/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Atlas Of Ai: Power, Politics And The Planetary Costs Of Artificial Intelligence - Book Review, Jelena Popov

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Colorectal Cancer Spheroid Model To Improve The Accuracy Of Preclinical Drug Testing, Jillian Trilevsky

Master's Theses

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. It currently affects millions of people across the globe and is only expected to increase in impact over the coming years. The most common treatment for metastatic colon cancer is chemotherapy, however, the development of chemotherapeutic drugs is a long and expensive process. A large portion of this development process is spent in preclinical drug testing. However, the models used often lack enough physiological relevance to guarantee the drug’s success in a clinical trial. Due to this gap in testing, researchers seek to develop a more physiologically relevant …

Multi-Material Printer Development, Jessica Hu, Phoebe Eplett

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Surgeons require pre-surgical models to practice procedures and improve success rates. However, the current process of creating physical models for practice using 3D printing is limited to producing homogeneous mimics of the human body, while the human body is a heterogeneous structure composed of multiple materials with varying properties, including bones, muscles, and skin. Additive manufacturing methods cannot easily print multiple materials simultaneously, as current AM machines only print homogeneous material, unlike the human body. In this proposal, we aim to develop a multi-material additive manufacturing system, from software to hardware, to manufacture pre-surgical models. We will investigate multi-material AM …

Approximating The Maximum Weighted Independent Set Problem Empirically, Sue Sue

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

In this project we investigate approximation algorithms for the maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) problem in random graphs that approximate real-world graphs, such as social networks. The problem involves finding a large collection of nodes in a network (vertices in a graph) such that no two nodes are directly connected to one another. Applications of the MWIS problem are broad and include clique-finding algorithms as well as the use of large independent sets in distributed algorithms. We build on prior work by the mentor with a SURP 2024 and senior project, in which preliminary findings suggested that a standard greedy …

Motor Subsystem For A Tensegrity-Based Robotic Exoskeleton, Presley Sacavitch, Israel Villegas

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Tensegrity structures are composed of stiff rods and elastic cables suspended in a flexible tension network. In particular, the biotensegrity model proposes that all biological systems exhibit tensegrity-like characteristics across multiple scales, ranging from the cellular level to the musculoskeletal system of tendons, ligaments, and fascia, to the human body as a whole. Compared to the traditional biomechanical models used in exoskeleton design, it can be a more accurate representation of how motion emerges from natural forms, but further work is needed to fully understand the heterarchical nature of human anatomy. This project will focus on developing a powered electrical …

Gene Expression Of Anthocyanin Pigments In The California Native Plant Leptosiphon Parviflorus: Interactions Between Flower Color Morphology And Abiotic Stressors, Weston Gonor

Master's Theses

For plants to survive in harsh conditions imposed by abiotic stressors, they must develop mechanisms of adaptation. One of the common types of adaptation seen in plants is the production of anthocyanin pigments, which have been shown to protect plants from UV radiation, metabolic stress, and drought. In this study, we used the flower color polymorphic species Leptosiphon parviflorus to investigate the role of anthocyanin pigments in protecting plants from abiotic stress. To accomplish this, RNA samples were taken from flower, leaf and root tissue of different flower color morphs of Leptosiphon parviflorus (Polemoniaceae) grown in high magnesium and water …

Alpine Plants And Climate Change: Tracking Community Shifts In Yosemite National, Brooke L. Wallasch

Master's Theses

As climate change progresses, alpine plant communities are predicted to shift upslope as they track temperature over time. Relative to lowland environments, alpine areas are experiencing a faster rate of temperature change due to a phenomenon referred to as elevation-dependent warming. A common approach for tracking plant communities shifts over time, is to conduct resurveys of the same area at several time points, as the Global Observational Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) has done on mountain summits around the world since 2001. In 2011-2013, GLORIA developed a supplemental survey method whereby belt transects were established downslope of summits in …

Alpine Plants And Climate Change: Tracking Community Shifts In Yosemite National Park, Brooke Wallasch, Annalise Burrows, Madeleine Colbert, Michael Gottlieb, Ty Connelly, Julian Durante, Emily Staats, Marjorie Say

Baker/Koob Endowments Awarded Projects

As climate change progresses, alpine plant communities are predicted to shift upslope as they track temperature over time. Relative to lowland environments, alpine areas are experiencing a faster rate of temperature change due to a phenomenon referred to as elevation-dependent warming. A common approach for tracking plant communities shifts over time, is to conduct resurveys of the same area at several time points, as the Global Observational Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) has done on mountain summits around the world since 2001. In 2011-2013, GLORIA developed a supplemental survey method whereby belt transects were established downslope of summits in …