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Biology News 2024, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Biology.

Biology News

Contents:

Letter from the Department Head --- 2
Bolton Award Winner --- 3
Goldwater Scholarship Winner --- 3
Purple and Old Gold Award Winner --- 3
Faculty News Roundup --- 4
New Hires --- 6
UNI Botanical Center --- 7
Alumni Information Request --- 7
Support Our Programs --- 8
Floyd Fellowship Award Winner --- 8

Csbs Statements, V25, 2023-24, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Social And Behavioral Sciences.

CSBS Statements

Contents:

From the Dean --- 3
A New Home for Health --- 4
Becoming Part of the Solution --- 7
Thriving Through Movement --- 10
Support Across the Lifespan --- 12
Atmosphere of Empathy: Path to Healing --- 14
College News --- 16
Student Spotlight --- 20
Alumni Highlights --- 24
Donor Spotlight --- 30
Annual Giving --- 34
Class Notes --- 38

Variability Of Water Quality In Relation To Farming Along The Raccoon River In West Des Moines, Iowa, Kelly Biscoglia

Honors Program Theses

Agriculture regularly impacts surrounding surface water via the runoff of chemical applicants. Manure runoff and nitrogen-based fertilizer runoff are largely responsible for heightened levels of contaminants such as nitrates. Contaminants have larger impacts as they travel through the hydrosphere to aquatic systems and water resources. This work aims to determine the impact of farming activities on surface water quality along the Raccoon River in West Des Moines, Iowa. In the most recent assessment by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the section of the Raccoon River covered in this research was listed under impaired following an integrated report of varying …

Notes For The Stalled, V16n06, January/February 2024, University Of Northern Iowa. Rod Library.

Rod Library newsletter: Notes for the Stalled

Contents:

--- Career Readiness
--- Research Award
--- New York Times
--- Diversity Display

Desert Or Mirage? An Examination Of Food Deserts In Iowa Cities, Andrew Creasey

Graduate Research Papers

Food insecurity affects millions of Americans and has been widely recognized as a significant health and economic issue. Because of this, researchers have sought to develop ways to identify areas that are prone to food insecurity, which have become known as food deserts. Food deserts have been broadly defined through a confluence of three factors: low income, a lack of vehicle access, and a predetermined distance from a healthy food retailer. But research into food deserts in Iowa is limited, and the most prominent source of information on this topic, the Food Access Research Atlas created by the U.S. Department …

Examining The Impact Book Promotions Have On Student Book Selection, Chelsea Dearborn

Graduate Research Papers

This qualitative case study reflects the influence a teacher librarian has on students ability to select reading materials. This study was conducted in a small, rural school in Southeast Iowa with a class of 21 4th grade students over a four week period. Students listened to book talks of many different types and then were observed as they made their book selections. The researcher discovered three initial codes in response to the two research questions. The first code is Self Awareness in Book Interests. Initial code two is Librarian Techniques Used to Foster a Desire for Pleasure Reading. The final …

Implications Of Educational Environments For Gender And Sexually Diverse Adolescents, Margaret J. Staff

Graduate Research Papers

Gender and sexually diverse adolescents (GSD) experience extreme risk to their safety and well-being in all parts of their lives, including in their educational experience (The Trevor Project, 2023). With the risks GSD adolescents experience, it is important to understand the negatives and positives they report. Positive experiences included their self-defined identities, peer connections, and the GSD community and negative experiences surrounded their families, schools, religious institutions, and residential communities (Higa et al., 2014).

A Case Study Of The Influence Of The Teacher Librarian On Middle And High School Student Book Selection, Hilary Peyton, Lindsay Salinas, Josie Smock, Meg Tisinger

Graduate Research Papers

This study examines the influence of the teacher librarian on middle and high school student book selection through library programming that includes teacher librarian book promotion strategies, specifically book talks, book displays, and genrefication in a school library. This qualitative case study of 60 Iowa middle and high school students aims to answer two questions: 1) What strategies do middle and high school students use for selecting books for pleasure reading? 2) How do teacher librarian book promotion strategies influence student selection of books for pleasure reading? Using participant surveys and interviews the study revealed 3 major themes: 1) Most …

Teacher Librarian Book Promotion: Bringing Motivation To The Forefront: A Research Proposal, Christy Bartels, Bree Dickens, Chris Frimml, Jennifer George, Kristel Groenewold

Graduate Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Increasing Reading Fluency In Ell Learners, Jennifer N. Patton

Graduate Research Papers

I am creating a project on how to effectively teach fluency to ELL students. To do so, I had to first research. Recent researches have revealed that English Language Learners (ELLs) face certain challenges that threaten their academic success, especially their reading fluency, and as a result, make learning difficult. To achieve the purpose of this research, this chapter is focused on providing a deeper analysis into the problem of fluency and how it affects ELLs. The target with this is to review shared knowledge around reading fluency development in ELLs. This chapter, therefore, entails reviews of the literature on …

A Case Study Of The Impact Of Lateral Reading Instruction On Students’ Evaluation Of Digital Information, Devon Allbee, Jenny Marburger, Tiffany Ostrowski

Graduate Research Papers

This qualitative study reports the impact of lateral reading instruction on students’ abilities to evaluate sources. This study consisted of students in three different Language Arts classrooms. There were 22 ninth-grade students in Classroom 1, 27 seventh-grade in Classroom 2, and 33 tenth-grade students in Classroom 3. Students participated in a series of lessons involving instruction, modeling, and practice of lateral reading. After each of these lessons, student data was collected using pre-, mid-, and post-assessments. Researchers used a rubric (see Appendix D) to score students’ lateral reading moves during a pre- mid- and post-assessment. A score of 0 meant …

The Role Of Parental Divorce In Childhood On Depression Among Adults, Amy Stoermer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between parental divorce and depression in emerging young adults who responded to the 2019 BRFSS study. The 2019 BRFSS utilized a Disproportionate Stratified Sample design to gather data across all states in the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The final number of participants used in this study was 50,804, ranging in age from 18 through 30. The number of male participants was 27,208 and the number of female participants was 23,596. The race of participants consisted of 31,177 white/non-Hispanic, 4,327 black/non-Hispanic, 3,443 Asian/non-Hispanic, and 2,831 …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Alcohol Use In Adulthood, Callie Franzen

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and alcohol use in adulthood among individuals who responded to the BRFSS 2022 study. Secondary data was used to gather information on adults. The BRFSS 2022 survey was a national survey conducted by the CDC that utilized stratified sampling to create two groups of participants based on phone number type. The final number of participants used in this sample was 445,132 adults aged 18 to 80 with 209,238 males and 235,894 females, and the races consisted of 333,514 Whites, 35,876 Blacks, 20,607 Asians, 42,977 Hispanics, …

Proportional Reasoning: Understanding Student Thinking With Direct And Inverse Proportions, Emma Marshall

Honors Program Theses

The topic of proportions in mathematics is often misunderstood by students, yet proportional reasoning is the foundation for higher-level math. The purpose of this study is to understand how students are currently solving direct and inverse proportion problems and how the degree of difficulty increases when solving inverse proportion problems. There is little research done about student thinking with inverse proportions. Primary data has been collected from students and will be used to analyze students’ thinking about inverse proportion as well as a comparative look between direct and inverse proportional reasoning. By understanding students' thinking about proportions, educators can better …

“Our Hands Are Tied”: How State Educational Diversity Laws Affect Iowa Public Educators And How Educators Respond, Lydia Berns-Schweingruber

Honors Program Theses

In May 2023, Iowa passed Senate File 496, which restricts public educators from sending students social-emotional learning surveys, requires public educators to inform parents when students request a pronoun change, and bans any books depicting a sexual act from public schools (Iowa Legislature 2023). Iowa and other states’ recent educational diversity laws are part of a broader history of public school censorship. This study examines how state educational diversity laws affect Iowa public educators and how educators respond. This paper draws on data from eight interviews with Iowa public teachers, administrators, and counselors. The findings show that state educational diversity …

Orthographic Influences On The Production Of French Nasal Vowels By English-Speaking Learners Of French, Claire Evelyn Tow

Honors Program Theses

The present study investigated acoustic differences (F1F2 vowel space and duration) in French nasal vowel productions by three participants who speak French as a first language (L1-French speakers) and ten participants who speak English as a first language and French as a second language (L2-French speakers). French nasal vowel production by L2-French speakers was acoustically analyzed in two conditions: Auditory-Orthographic (Aud-Ortho) and Auditory-Only (Aud-Only). The results indicated a larger F1F2 vowel space for L2-French speakers in the AudOrtho task compared to the Aud-Only task. French nasal vowel durations were slightly longer for the L2-French speakers. Spectrograms from L2-French speakers revealed …

Changing Demographics In A Rural Iowa High School: A Case Study Of The Experiences Of Emergent Bilinguals, Lindsay Carter

Honors Program Theses

For this thesis project, I conducted a qualitative case study of a rural high school facing demographic changes that affected the district’s population of English language learner (ELL) students. This study took place in Smalltown Community School District (all locations and names in this study are pseudonyms), an Iowa school district located in a very rural area of the state. I have close ties to this district and have spoken with people involved in their efforts to work with this population change they are facing. As a future teacher of ELL and multilingual students, I was highly interested in pursuing …

Confronting Cte: A Blog Dedicated To Increasing Awareness In Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Caden Shea

Honors Program Theses

The variation on a creative thesis that I formed was a website and blog that utilized research about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and how it affects athletes of all kinds, specifically athletes in the National Football League. The reason that I chose this topic is because the field that I hope to go into is that of sports journalism. One of the biggest problems facing sports leagues all over the world is the issue of safety. One of the biggest safety concerns in sports is that of head injuries, and one of the most prominent head injuries is CTE. I chose …

The Thing With Feathers For Orchestra, Treyton Blaser

Honors Program Theses

I have known for a long time that in order to complete my honors thesis, I would need to write some sort of “big, monolithic” piece to show my work. Initially, I had decided that I wanted to pursue a path of electroacoustic composition to complete this piece, as this area was, and still is, a field of music composition that I lack general knowledge with. The progress on this piece was rapid at first, yet slowly came to a halt. My lack of familiarity with the processes and options available led to quickly feeling overwhelmed with the scope of …

Unreliable Narrators; Origins And Impact, Lauren Fetzer

Honors Program Theses

Unreliable narrators can be found in every source of information. They mediate the text for the reader and raise our perceptions of stories, news articles, and forms of receiving facts. While they can be seen in a variety of different genres and forms of literature over the span of many decades, the understanding and acceptance of unreliable narrators have shifted over time. During the late nineteenth century, many authors utilized neutral narrators, intended to be without opinions or bias, when discussing social issues. In Stephen Crane’s 1893 novella Maggie: a Girl of the Streets the narrator is not the main …

"Sit Still, Look Pretty To Survive": An Analysis Of The Hunger Games Trilogy, Bryleigh Sharon De Jong

Honors Program Theses

In this thesis, it emphasizes that the analysis of this topic was done through an extensive literature review. Throughout the research process, academic and scholarly articles were reviewed and quoted from previous studies. From previous literature, results express the idea of varying ideals and needs for the “perfect” film adaptation; additionally how the people researched the workers within the film and seeing the differences involving work with the script and actors. Screenwriting theory was also taken into account through previous research.

At the end of a decade, a literary trilogy became a new pop culture phenomenon, The Hunger Games. The …

Editing The Tri5 Gene Of Fusarium Graminearum Using Crispr/Cas9, Madelyn Rae Waters

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Language Barriers In The U.S. Legal System For Primarily Spanish Speakers: Attorney Perspectives And Potential Solutions For True Equal Access, Emma F. Kizer

Honors Program Theses

The U.S. legal system is difficult to navigate for anyone who is attempting to use it, but non-English-speaking individuals have a unique set of obstacles to overcome. Communicating and understanding legal jargon and processes can become increasingly strenuous when one does not speak English in a predominantly English system. This study is specifically focused on the barriers that Spanish-speaking clients face and potential ways to change the system in order to make the experiences of non-English speakers more accessible. By interviewing attorneys who work with both English and Spanish speaking clients, we gain insight into their perspective on issues they …

Little Miss Sure Shot: Essays On A Young Woman Journalist's Search For Fulfillment, Mallory Schmitz

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Using Gis To Evaluate Habitat Connectivity Among The Pollinator Conservation Reserve Program Pollinator Habitat (Cp-42) Restorations In Northeast Iowa, Ethan D. Dickey

Honors Program Theses

The Conservation Reserve Program pollinator habitat conservation practice (CP-42) allows farmers to turn their land, once used for agriculture, into restored prairie to provide floral sources and habitat for wild pollinators. In order for these sites to be fully effective, they must be accessible to native bees and other pollinator species. To understand the movement of native bees and how these corridors are being used to establish new bee communities in these restored sites, we must understand the landscape around them. The vegetation and native bee communities were surveyed at nineteen CP-42 sites in 2018 and 2019. Landscape and land-use …

Characterization Of Zebra Calcite To Better Understand Wind Cave National Park As An Extraterrestrial Analog, Jenna Heinen

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Equity In Harmony: Music Teacher Preparedness And Perceptions Of Multilingual Learners In The Midwest, Mckenzie Vick

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions music teachers in the Midwest have regarding working with multilingual students, how music education benefits their multilingual students, and how they perceive the struggles their multilingual students have regarding music education. The study was a qualitative study in which 5 teachers were interviewed on their perceptions. The study found that music teachers see many benefits of music education for multilingual students including: building a sense of belonging, helping with language learning, having a non-academic outlet, and providing additional socialization opportunities. It also found that teachers did not feel prepared to …

Crafting A Traveling Icon: The Role Of Mobile Carillons In Honoring Tradition, Emily S. Clouser

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of mobile carillons in honoring the traditions of carillonneurs and universities alike. I will first discuss the history of carillons and the tradition of carillonneurs, as well as the possible impacts of exposing the technical skill required to play such a public instrument that yet uniquely isolates the performer. I will then explain the various roles that mobile carillons have served and their gradual development over the years. The purpose of mobile carillons fluctuated, first beginning as a sales tactic, then a concert instrument—which eventually became a science experiment—a home …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On The It Services Industry, Shekynah Annemarie Haworth

Honors Program Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions across industries worldwide, and the information technology (IT) industry has been no exception. As IT professionals continue to face unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic, it is essential to understand the current effects of COVID-19 on the IT services sector and what the future may hold. This study aims to provide an up-to-date understanding of how the pandemic has influenced the IT services sector by conducting an in-depth survey among IT professionals. The research will primarily focus on the persistent challenges faced by IT professionals during the pandemic and what changes have occurred …

Impact Of High School Climate And Bullying On Depression And Anxiety In Emerging Adulthood, Tyler K. D. Larson

Honors Program Theses

Depression and anxiety disorders are a significant public health concern, especially among adolescents and emerging adults. Education is a central component of adolescents’ lives that shapes their development and experiences. School climate refers to the overall nature and quality of a school’s environment. Social relationships, teaching and learning practices, school facilities, safety, and school connectedness all contribute to school climate. Previous studies have found that positive school environments serve as a protective factor against adverse mental health outcomes. However, many of these studies focus on a single aspect of school climate, and there is conflicting evidence on how school climate …