Digital Commons Network^™

Getting To Guidelines: Corralling Competing Needs At Cuny, Jahanara Alamgir, Yujin Lee, Rachael Nevins, Jojo Karlin, Andrew Mckinney

Publications and Research

This case study examines how the City University of New York (CUNY) developed guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) in the creation of open educational resources (OER). CUNY is the nation’s largest urban public university, with 26 campuses distributed across New York City’s five boroughs. CUNY includes 7 community colleges, 11 senior colleges (3 of which are comprehensives), and 8 graduate, honors, and professional schools. Since the 2017-2018 academic year, CUNY’s OER Initiative has received $4 million a year of state funding to support the creation and use of OER across the university system. The OER Initiative …

Hs 6000 Food Systems And Health, Shannon Caravello

Open Educational Resources

Within the context of the US food system, students will examine the role of urban agriculture and its impact on local communities. Students will gain the ability to critically analyze current trends in urban agriculture and apply them to societal; cultural and health issues associated with the US food system as well as develop strategies to implement healthy eating in their own lives. Issues of food justice and insecurity will be addressed. Demonstrations and workshops on the KCC Community Farm and Garden may be included.

Major And Institution Transfer Path Combinations And The Relaxed Lasso Method: Parsimonious Prediction Of Vertical Transfer Student Success, David Wutchiett, A. W. Logue, Martin Kurzweil, Colin Chellman

Publications and Research

The majors, institutions, and their combinations, which characterize transfer between higher education institutions relate to student success but introduce high-dimensionality and multicollinearity to statistical modeling. Relaxed lasso regression, a procedure blending regularized lasso models with unregularized refit models, selects variables and facilitates unbiased coefficient estimation in high-dimensional settings. Using a large sample of students transferring from associate to bachelor’s programs (n=28,166), we compared lasso and ridge regression parsimonious models predicting bachelor’s graduation and posttransfer GPA improvement, evaluating associations using unregularized parsimonious predictive models. Relaxed lasso parsimonious optimal models outperformed standard lasso and ridge regression models while including few of 702 …

Assigning Library E-Books As Textbooks: An Examination Of Collection Development Policies And User Education Practices At Minority-Serving Institutions, Michelle Ehrenpreis

Publications and Research

Assigning library e-books as course textbooks can help to alleviate the financial burden of college for many students. Accordingly, libraries include e-books in their collection development policies and strive to educate users on the availability of these texts via the use of library research guides. Previous studies discuss library collection strategies and intentions to use e-books as textbooks, but do not discuss continuous or permanent plans. This study examined library policies at Hispanic Service Institutions (HSI’s) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) to evaluate how these libraries approach and document their acquisitions of library e-books. Research guides at the …

Improving Efficiency In Noma Schemes Having Inter-User Interference Using Mechanism Design, Zory Marantz

Publications and Research

Modern wireless systems utilize non-orthogonal multiple access to increase their rate capacities; however, the efficiency of the individual utility defined in bits per Joule has yet to be considered. Multiple variations of non-orthogonal multiple access have the interference of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio as a function of the received power from multiple other users due to code implementations that are non-orthogonal or non-ideal cancellation in successive-interference-cancellation methods. Game theoretic concepts are used to improve user bits-per-Joule performance. Previous solutions increment transmit power and are not based on closed form systematic methods. The mechanism design presented here led to a non-cooperative Nash …

Archives And Children's Knowledge, Elliott Kuecker, Ashley Rockenbach

Publications and Research

This article argues for the importance of collecting works created by children—not just about and not just for—in formal archival collections. Framed through the ideas of legitimate knowledge and epistemic injustice, this piece combines notions important to children’s rights activists and childhood studies scholars with the role archives can play in preserving children’s knowledge through child-created materials. The authors describe how researchers struggle to find work created by children within archives, impacting the ability to create child-centered research that centers children’s views of the world as prominently as adult views of the world. Some collections that do include child-created materials …

Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning In Science Classrooms Through The Lens Of Yoga And Vedānta, Raaghav Pandya

Publications and Research

Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer …

A Brief Measure Of Decisional Balance For Health Equity Engagement Among Health Professionals, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Racial health and healthcare inequities are sustained in part by health professionals’ beliefs about the benefits and costs of equity-focused action, yet no validated decisional balance measure exists for this domain. This study introduces and evaluates the Health Equity Decisional Balance (HEDB) scale. Eighty-eight health professionals completed the scale of ten proposed items assessing perceived pros and cons of engaging with health and healthcare equity work, along with a measure of Anti-Racist Efficacy (ARE) (Eschmann et al., 2023). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the latent structure of the scale and its predictive validity. A …

Infection Control Across Clinical And Laboratory Dental Settings Protocols, Risks, And The Role Of Emerging Technologies, Khrystyna Vyprynyuk, Laura Andreesku

Publications and Research

This article explores infection prevention strategies and disease transmission pathways in dental settings, emphasizing the critical connection between clinical practice and dental laboratories. It highlights the risks of cross-contamination, disinfection and sterilization challenges, and the growing role of technology in enhancing infection control.

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Publications and Research

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

What Race Means For Health Among Black Americans: How Microaggressions Shape Self-Efficacy And Readiness For Behavior Change, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Objectives: Persistent racial disparities in cardiovascular health among Black Americans reflect not only structural inequities in the United States, but also the racialized meanings of cardiovascular disease reproduced through public and private health communication. Drawing on ecological systems theory, this research examines how beliefs linking race and cardiovascular disease are reinforced through routine clinical interactions and how these meanings shape health behavior change. Method: Across two experimental mixed-methods studies, a model integrating ecological, social–cognitive, and behavior change frameworks was tested. In Study 1 (N = 374), health-message framing was experimentally manipulated to examine effects on self-efficacy and decisional balance while …

Food Apartheid And The Retail Food Environment In The Bronx, Aissatou Barry

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

This project examines the structural mechanisms that contribute to unequal food access, both historical and ongoing, in the South Bronx, and applies the food apartheid framework created by Bronx food activist Karen Washington. This paper applies the framework to two food retail initiatives in NYC: the New York State Regional Hub and the New York City FRESH food program to assess whether their policies address the structural mechanisms that contribute to food inequality. I ask: How does the unequal distribution of healthy food access in the Bronx reflect broader patterns of racial and economic exclusion? To what extent do current …

Will Technology Help Us Understand Animals?, Frances I. Sacks

Capstones

New technologies allow scientists to study animal communication like never before. Advanced surveillance devices ornament forests and oceans, recording animals over great stretches of distance and time. Artificial intelligence can absorb these enormous datasets, sorting tangled abstractions into coherent patterns. With a sufficiently robust library of analyzed data, some researchers believe that large language models will soon learn to translate whale communication systems.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ky6mPFjc-lNJFVK8CHebUa5zCSFUoMgkCB560pqxwfo/edit?tab=t.0

En Tiempos De Trump, El Cuidado De Hijos Estadounidenses Hacia Sus Padres Inmigrantes Se Intensifica, Ana Maria Betancourt

Capstones

In immigrant families, children born in the United States (or first-generation Latinos) are taking on the role of caregivers for their parents to protect them from the deportations and detentions that are occurring in the country.

Early Childhood Educators Around The City Struggle With Delayed Payments From The City, Shenal F. Tissera

Capstones

My story focuses on early childhood education centers and funding issues that teachers have gone through with the city. Many early education centers receive funding directly from the NYC Department of Education to operate and rely on such funding for rent, electricity and supplies. Since COVID, the city has had an issue with getting payments to these centers on time. My story focuses on a education center teacher and owner who dealt with these issues while going through personal tragedies. The problem is complex and has much to do with staffing shortages that are slowly getting back to pre-pandemic levels …

For 600,000 New Yorkers, Toxins Are In Their Tap Water: A New York Focus Analysis Of State Inspection Data Shows Key Toxins Are In Public Water Systems From Long Island To The Adirondacks, Posing Risks For Cancers And Other Diseases. Millions Are Being Spent To Fix Problems, But Even Well-Planned Efforts Have Faced Delays. Poorer Towns Wonder If They Can Afford To Fix The Problem., Shuchi Shah, Hayden Betts, Aurora Martinez, Rebecca Mccray

Capstones

The story stems from an analysis of New York State data on drinking water contaminants. The state inspection data shows key toxins are in public water systems from Long Island to the Adirondacks, posing risks for cancers and other diseases. Millions are being spent to fix problems, but even well-planned efforts have faced delays. Poorer towns wonder if they can afford to fix the problem.

Ice In Nyc, Student Interfaith Walkout, And Bronx Night Market Bid Farwell: Reporting For Newmark’S “Audio Files”, Rebecca Raghunath

Capstones

Audiofiles is a news magazine podcast powered by students at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Students produce stories that seek to explore and explain the core issues defining the lives of New Yorkers through in-depth reporting, hosting interviews, and personal narratives. This capstone includes a collection of news stories that address immigration, politics, and food tourism. The first feature is about the chilling effect ICE enforcement has had on immigrant owned businesses in East Harlem. The second feature focuses on pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. This story examines how a student walkout at an interfaith workshop led to …

The American Eye And Greek Music: How Greek Artists Are Changing To Become Palatable To The Non-Greek Listener, Andriana Kourkoumelis

Capstones

International artists are trying to successfully bridge into the U.S. music industry, and Greek pop singers are finally making a dent. This year, some of the biggest names in Greece, along with a couple new faces, were working with their labels to rebrand as a means to connect with the American listener and expand their listenership. With three notable tours happening across the states from muscians like Konstantinos Argiros, Anastasia, and Marina Satti playing venues like the Barclays Center and Sony Hall, it's safe to assume that there is a shift happening in the world of Balkan and Hellenic entertainment. …

The Next Drug Epidemic Is Legal: The Nation's Kratom Problem Is More Complicated—And More Harmful—Than It Seems, Elizabeth Walsh

Capstones

This two-part health and science investigative piece reports how kratom and its offshoots have quietly fueled a lucrative and legal addiction epidemic for the last decade. While kratom’s derivative alkaloid 7-hyrdoxymitragynine made headlines this year and as the DEA is poised to ban the strong derivative, “natural” kratom and other kratom-derived products will remain. This piece tracks the history of the 'gas‑station opioid' crisis in the U.S. over ten years: what was thought to be an innocuous southeast Asian supplement has become multi-billion dollar industry built on gray‑area laws, marketed falsehoods, and regulatory loophooles.

Part 1: The ‘Gas Station Opioid’ …

How Has Your Climate Changed?, Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa

Capstones

This interactive data visualization shows readers how much the climate has changed in their home state compared to 100 years ago, since the reader was born, the current year and projections into the future. It aims to communicate climate change impacts more personally by linking it to seasons, the reader's birth year and age mile stones and compares a readers' home state to a state that has been more impacted to connect across different states and communities.

Using JavaScript and Svelte, the code calculates and displays seasonal averages for the baseline period for the reader's state and years for the …

Nyc Falls Behind In Climate Resources For Pregnant And Postpartum Moms, Jada Simon

Capstones

The U.S. still holds the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income nations around the world. While national rates have since seen a slight decrease, Black mothers still see high maternal death rates in comparison to white mothers, showing that racial disparities in maternal death rates are still apparent. In NYC, the reason for these disparities are not just unequal access to quality healthcare, but also the poor living conditions of neighborhoods in the city that are made up mainly of minoritized groups. So far, it has gone unconsidered that that the maternal mortality and climate crises are happening concurrently. This …

The Glow Up Guide: Chicago Edition : Housing + Stability After Foster Care, Lucila M. Baptiste

Capstones

For my practicum, I examined what “independence” looks like for young people aging out of foster care and how the transition to adulthood is shaped by housing instability, rising living costs, and uneven access to support. Using an engagement journalism approach, I centered lived experience and community-informed reporting to document the challenges young people face as systems shift responsibilities onto them often quickly and with limited safety nets.

This practicum pairs narrative reporting with a practical, service-oriented resource component designed to be useful beyond the classroom. The project draws on interviews, field reporting, and collaboration with people closest to the …

The Campus Evp: A Multi-Case Content Analysis Of Employer Branding Communication In U.S. Higher Education, Latoya A. Clarke

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how universities across the major geographical regions in the United States communicate their employer brand through the Careers section on their websites and digital recruitment materials. Using a multiple-case qualitative content analysis, the study applies the four-dimensional brand SMRT storytelling framework of story, meaning, ritual, and transmedia to evaluate how institutions signal aspects of their employer value proposition across various content formats. Findings show that meaning and ritual were consistently applied through content formats via mission statements, departmental narratives, and employee photography. However, story and transmedia appeared inconsistently, as fewer content formats featured long-form …

After Decades Of Service, Immigrant Caregivers Leave Under Threat Of Deportation, Jonathan Calixto, Gabriela Flores

Capstones

This capstone features an undocumented nanny named Sandra Robles, who left the United States in response to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Her story reflects the experiences of several undocumented immigrants who fear encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its aggressive removal proceedings.

Robles is one of over 200,000 foreign-born domestic workers living in New York City. This article also covers the labor and immigration challenges she and other undocumented nannies face while working in the United States.

Creating A Radical Social Change Campaign To Restore Rational Thinking: A Theoretical Framework, John S. Long

Student Theses and Dissertations

Rational thinking is a skill and mindset that is under siege in modern society, becoming increasingly endangered as we devolve into increasingly hyper-partisan communities rife with echo chambers and confirmation biases. The most basic processes of analyzing issues and facts to develop clearly thought-out and defendable positions have been abandoned in favor of a zealous devotion to toe the party line, no matter the evidence or implications. What we are witnessing firsthand is the fast-approaching culmination of the post-truth era.

One might assume that an issue with such far-reaching implications across our entire society would generate a significant amount of …

Data Storytelling For Reputation Management: A Multiple Case Study Of Formula 1, Patagonia & Spotify, Michael O. P. Lowsley-Williams

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates data storytelling as a reputation management strategy by examining how organizations leverage data narratives to enhance brand identity, build stakeholder trust, and reshape public perception. Through analysis and comparison of three qualitative case studies of Patagonia, Formula 1, and Spotify, this research explores how these companies construct and utilize data-driven narratives to address reputational challenges across distinct industry contexts. Drawing on elements of framing, situational crisis and stakeholder theories as well as the concepts of encoding and decoding, this study analyzes narrative structures, framing devices, and audience engagement tactics within reports, campaigns, and multimedia content from 2015-2025. …

Betting Apps, Broadswords, And A Battle For Better Pay: Stories Of New York City As Reported On “Audiofiles”, Jarrod Barry

Capstones

This capstone is comprised of three different stories for “AudioFiles”, a bi-weekly radio and podcast news show that covers current events in and around New York City. The portfolio covers three different types of pieces: a narrated feature, a nonnarrative feature, and a quick-turn daybook story. The narrated feature looks at the growing popularity in gambling apps and their link to gambling addiction. The second piece is a nonnarrated feature profiling a modern gladiator and his experience fighting in the Armored League. The final piece looks at City Council legislation that provides a bonus to the city’s paraprofessional teaching assistants. …

Inside The Gen Z Vote Across Gender And Race, Juliet La Sala

Capstones

This capstone examines how two people from two different Gen Z groups are navigating the 2024 U.S. election. One story revolves around a young woman adopting a U.S. version of South Korea’s 4B Movement and another reflects on a Gen Z Arab American responding to the Israel–Hamas war. Through reported stories and interviews, it explores how personal experience, gender and ethnic violence, and political disillusionment shaped these young voters’ choices and activism. Sierra Bee's story is in light of Trump's election and Liam's is right before the 2024 election took place. Together, the pieces highlight how global events and identity-based …

The Bmt: Will This Time Be Different?: Red Hook Braces For A Mega-Project On The Waterfront. Can It Avoid The Mistakes Of Atlantic Yards?, Steve Kastenbaum

Capstones

"The BMT: Will this time be different?" investigates how New York City's push to rapidly build housing is reshaping communities. A $3.5 billion mega-project at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal promises transformation through 6,000 apartments, a modernized port, and waterfront improvements, but residents are split on whether it represents progress or displacement. The development uses a controversial "general project plan" process that bypasses normal community review, the same approach that enabled the still-unfinished Atlantic Yards project. Local voices in Red Hook range from excitement about investment, jobs and amenities to fears about gentrification and broken promises. This pilot episode launches a …

¡Ausente!: La Censura De Los Migrantes Dentro Del Museo Smithsonian, Gretchen Lembcke Peña

Capstones

El museo Smithsonian cerró su exhibición sobre migrantes latinos sin notificarles a los artistas. Ahora, grupos de defensa y los mismos artistas están empujando contra la censura de su arte.