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Spartan Daily, September 22, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 167, Issue 13

Spartan Daily, September 9, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 167, Issue 08

Pushed To The Edges? Electivity Patterns Of Urban Stream Homeless Encampments In Environmentally Burdened Areas, Serena Alexander, Bennett Williamson, Jeff Wootton, Costanza Rampini, Gregory Brian Pasternack, Yufang Jin, Rune Storesund, Igor Lacan

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Urban stream corridors in the San Francisco Bay Area have increasingly become locations for homeless encampments, yet little is known about the environmental conditions of these spaces. This study uses a geospatial electivity index to examine whether urban stream encampments in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties are disproportionately located in census tracts with high pollution burdens, as measured by CalEnviroScreen 4.0. Findings show a statistically significant overrepresentation of encampments in census tracts in the top 25% of pollution and vulnerability scores, and a significant underrepresentation in lower-pollution areas. These results suggest that homeless individuals are being pushed toward environmentally …

Wildfire Risk & Preparedness For Urban Rail Operators Supporting Large Stadium Events, Karl Kim, Eric Yamashita, Daniele Spirandeli, David Rother

Mineta Transportation Institute

The project team, in collaboration with partners and stakeholders, developed a four-hour training course designed to build a foundational understanding of how wildfire hazards affect rail systems infrastructure operations and how this knowledge can help equip urban rail operators with tools and best practices for proactive risk management. Led by the University of Hawaiʻi and the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, in partnership with Haley & Aldrich, Inc., this technical report presents an overview of the four modules and scenario planning exercise that together make up the four-hour Wildfire Risk & Preparedness for Urban Rail Operators Supporting Large Stadium Events …

Spartan Daily, April 30, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 40

Equitable Estimation Of Accurate High Injury Networks (Hins) For Vulnerable Road Users, Anurag Pande, Anandamayee Majumdar, Lucas Roman Kantorowski

Mineta Transportation Institute

To improve traffic safety, communities first need to know where serious crashes are actually happening. High-Injury Networks are designed to identify these locations, but they are usually built using only police-reported crash data. This research asks: Are we missing crashes—and injuries—by relying on police data alone? The research team first demonstrates that data from Emergency Medical Services and those from official databases differ substantially, and neither data set captures the full extent of collisions in a community. Following that analysis, the research team concluded that a new data source may help complete this. Toward that end, the research team scraped …

Spartan Daily, March 25, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 27

Spartan Daily, March 17, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 23

Spartan Daily, March 11, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 21

Spartan Daily, March 4, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 18

Development Of A Framework For Identifying Asphalt Pavement Cracking Distresses Using Machine Learning, Dingxin Cheng

Mineta Transportation Institute

Asphalt pavement cracking is one of the most critical distresses affecting pavement performance and service life. When pavement deteriorates, it can lead to safety hazards, higher vehicle maintenance costs, and expensive repairs for cities and states—making early detection essential for everyone who relies on the roadway system. To address this challenge, the research team developed a prototype cracking identification system that integrates a customized machine learning model with computer vision algorithms. High-resolution images collected from drones or ground-based cameras are processed within the system to automatically detect and classify major cracking types. The core of the framework utilizes the You …

Spartan Daily, February 25, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 15

Spartan Daily, February 4, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 6

The Ideological Work Of Penal Reform: How Reformers Justify Penal-Welfare Hybridization, John Halushka, Brandon Miller

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This article uses the Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center (RRC) as a case study to explore the cultural content of penal reform. Specifically, we explore the discourses that officials use to publicly justify projects of penal-welfare hybridization, or the linking of state systems of punishment and welfare to manage criminalized populations. Our qualitative analysis draws on a dataset consisting of county planning documents, budgets, videos, press releases, and newsletters published online between 2011 and 2023. By examining these materials over time, we are able to chart patterns of consistency and variation in how officials justify hybridization. We find that …

Assessing The Ecological Drivers Of Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Of Fuels In The California Home Ignition Zone, Christopher David Benterou

Master's Theses

Consecutive years of devastating home losses to wildfire indicate the need for home fuel reduction and construction improvements. Existing research correlates house survival with modifications to the home ignition zone (HIZ) and is required in high fire hazard areas of California (CA). Mitigations, designed to disrupt continuous fuel patterns, (e.g., separating surface and canopy fuels), can also introduce ecological changes that can alter overall code compliance. Previous compliance studies used respondent and agency-generated data, which may lack accuracy. Assessing additional house and ecological features (e.g., canopy cover and construction) would improve prediction of compliance, but these relationships are poorly studied. …

Exploring Electric Bicycle Safety Performance Data And Policy Options For California, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Kevin Fang

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study was conducted as directed by California Senate Bill 381 (2023), which called for research to help policymakers develop effective laws and policy to support the twin goals of expanding electric bicycle use and protecting the safety of electric bicycle riders and other road users. The three major strands of findings presented in this report are (1) a review of how California and other states (and countries) regulate electric bicycle use, (2) a review of the electric bicycle safety literature, including original analysis of primary data on crashes, injuries, and deaths, and (3) strategies that the state could adopt …

Spartan Daily, November 19, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 37

Climatology Of Northeast Winds In Northern And Central California: A New Characterization Of The Diablo Wind, Alana R. Macken

Master's Theses

Diablo winds in northern California are known for driving some of the most destructive wildfires in state history. The Camp Fire of 2018, which caused at least 85 civilian fatalities, is just one example of the devastating outcomes associated with these rapidly developing downslope windstorms. While they are known to occur most frequently from fall through spring, much about the structure, evolution, and full spatial extent of these events remains poorly understood. Most previous studies have focused on a limited number of high-impact cases or have defined events using humidity-based thresholds in isolated regions such as the North Bay. As …

Spartan Daily, November 11, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 34

Fresno’S Scribbles Bike Path: A Master Plan For Active Transportation, Holly Sowles, Uris Giron

Mineta Transportation Institute

The Fresno Scribbles Bike Path Master Plan, which represents a commitment to equitable active transportation and social infrastructure, is designed to enhance the quality of life for Fresno residents by providing safe, comfortable, and accessible biking and walking paths while promoting sustainability and fostering a sense of community. This report details the Intelligent Design Visualization Lab’s (IDVL) ongoing contribution to the Fresno City Scribbles Bike Campus initiative. This multifaceted urban intervention seeks to promote bike and pedestrian safety, enhance environmental resilience, and active transportation infrastructure through design, serving as a form of placemaking. In collaboration with the Fresno State Transportation …

Spartan Daily, October 22, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 26

Spartan Daily, October 1, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 17

Spartan Daily, September 23, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 12

Uav-Based Transport Management For Smart Cities Using Machine Learning, Sweekruthi Balivada, Jerry Gao, Yuting Sha, Manisha Lagisetty, Damini Vichare

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Highlights: What are the main findings? A smart transport management system based on UAV data integrating advanced machine learning and deep learning techniques is proposed to enhance road anomaly detection and severity classification. The system employs a comprehensive multi-stage framework, integrating a high-precision obstacle detection model, six specialized severity classification models, and an aggregation model to deliver accurate anomaly assessment, enabling strategic, data-driven road maintenance and enhanced transportation safety. What is the implication of the main finding? A scalable and efficient solution is proposed to enhance road safety and optimize transportation management through intelligent anomaly detection and severity assessment. This …

Spartan Daily, September 11, 2025, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2025

Volume 165, Issue 9

Deep Learning-Based Drowsiness Detection System For Driver’S Safety, Sindhu Vidyanathan Dixith, Shrikant Jadhav, Youngsoo Kim, Naveenkumar Jayakumar

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Driver drowsiness is a leading contributor to road accidents, accounting for over 100,000 crashes and approximately ~1000 fatalities each year in the United States alone, as per National Safety Council (NSC). To mitigate this urgent public-safety risk, we propose a real-time Driver Drowsiness Detection System that achieves both high accuracy and fast inference on standard hardware. Our key idea is to combine two complementary deep-learning strategies: 1) a custom Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) paired with a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, and 2) a lightweight transfer-learning model built upon a pre-trained convolutional backbone. We evaluate these approaches on two datasets: …

Varona, Federico, San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

USA:

University of Kansas, Major: Organizational Communication. Minor: Intercultural Communication, 1991 Ph.D.

University of Kansas, Major: Organizational Communication Minor: Intercultural Communication, 1988, M.A. [M.A. Thesis: A Comparative Study of Communication Satisfaction in Two Guatemalan Companies]

FRANCE:

Center AudioVisuel Recherche et Communication, Lyon, France, Audiovisual Communication.1977 Diplome

SPAIN:

Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain, Major: Theology, 1976 Licenciado [Thesis: De Carl Rogers a la Pedagogía de la Fe]

Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain. Major: Psychology. Minor: Clinical and Educational Psychology, 1976 Diplomado

GUATEMALA:

Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala, Psychology, 1972-1974

Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala, Theology, 1972-1974 …

All Eyes On Me: Security And Preventative Measures In The Era Of Shoplifting, Clarissa Guevarra

Master's Theses

The passing of CA bills ranging from AB 1779 to SB 1416, and Proposition 36 aims to combat a supposed rise in retail theft, particularly denoting the increase in organized retail theft. This research investigates the accuracy of mainstream narratives surrounding retail theft, focusing on the various security strategies adopted by major retailers—namely, Walmart and Target stores—in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study aims to analyze the different types of security (human and physical), and their efficacy, and to envision alternative strategies to address theft beyond the adoption of punitive security strategies. Using a visual ethnographic approach, supplemented with …

Interactions Between A High Intensity Wildfire And An Atmopsheric Hydraulic Jump In The Case Of The 2023 Lahaina Fire, Clifford Dw Ehrke

Master's Theses

On 8 August 2023, a grass fire that started in the city of Lahaina, Hawai’i, grew into the deadliest wildfire in the United States since 1918. This wildfire offers a unique opportunity to explore the impact of high heat output on an atmospheric hydraulic jump and a downslope wind event. We conducted two WRF-SFIRE simulations to investigate these effects: one incorporating fire–atmosphere feedback and the other without it. We compare these WRF-SFIRE simulations to all available data regarding the fire event, including high resolution satellite data, weather station data from other parts of Maui and the Hawaiian Archipelago, and official …

Exploring Program Participant And Staff Perspectives On Correctional Education Programs, My Ngoc Nguyen

Dissertations

In this paper, I explored program participant and staff perspectives on correctional education programs. Prior research measured success of correctional education through recidivism, post-employment opportunities, and post-secondary education. However, few research examined the perspectives of staff, program participants, and alumni of such programs to understand factors that aid in important educational experiences within correctional education programs. In this study, I utilized a mixed-methods approach, where I collected close-ended and open-ended survey responses from 10 staff and 5 program participants on their ratings of program principles and characteristics as well as optional follow-up interviews to elaborate on their survey responses. The …