Digital Commons Network^™

Pieces Solving A Puzzle: Emerging Roles And Cross-Field Analogies During A Distributed Epistemic Game, Jenna Matthews

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

In an effort to describe why some problems can’t be solved, a character compared them to a cubic meter of platinum - a block so dense that all the people who could squeeze around it still couldn’t lift it off the ground. In the same way, these problems simply can’t have enough people gathered around and communicating about them - and so they remain unsolved.

This research looks at the first Polymath Project (2009) as an example of a distributed epistemic game to examine how groups engage with complex problems. and without a locally omniscient individual. In this setting of …

Providing Effective Student Feedback: Effects Of Sociotropy, Student-Teacher Connectedness, And Expressed Disappointment And Praise On Students' Self-Esteem And Motivation, Emily Davied

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examined how different types of teacher feedback (i.e., expressed pride, expressed disappointment, and near-neutral feedback) impact students’ motivation to learn and self-esteem. It also explored whether such effects vary depending on students' personality and how connected they feel to their teacher. Undergraduate students (N = 221) imagined receiving feedback from a teacher and completed surveys assessing their motivation, self-esteem, sociotropy, and connectedness with the teacher. The results showed that feedback expressing disappointment lowered students' self esteem compared to expressing pride and lowered students' motivation compared to near neutral feedback. Although sociotropy (i.e., dependence on others' approval) and teacher …

Balancing Root-Zone Oxygenation And Rhizosphere Stability: The Impact Of Aeration And Hypoxia On Hydroponic Plant Growth, Christian D. Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As the global population and food demand continue to increase, growers must look to innovative and sustainable methods for plant cultivation. Hydroponics is a popular method of sustainable plant cultivation where plant roots are suspended over a liquid nutrient solution. Hydroponics uses less water compared to traditional agriculture because there is no evaporation or solution runoff. It also maximizes land use, requires fewer pesticides and herbicides, and enables year-round cultivation in controlled environments. However, indoor hydroponic systems rely on artificial lighting, which has higher energy costs than traditional farming methods. Optimizing growing conditions is therefore critical to ensure long-term economic …

Cascaded Pid Control Of A Passive Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage Aircraft, Zachary T. Jenkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents an autopilot for a Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage (BIRE) aircraft. Most airplanes control yaw using a vertical stabilizer and a moving rudder, a design that has stayed essentially unchanged for nearly a century but adds weight, drag, and surface area to the aircraft. The BIRE removes the vertical tail entirely and instead allows the horizontal tail to rotate about the body x-axis of the airplane; tilting the horizontal tail produces a yaw force, doing the job of a rudder. This thesis first develops a controller for the BIRE where the empennage angle is commanded directly, then extends …

Faculty Senate Agenda October 5, 2026, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

3:00 Call to Order

Approval of Minutes - September 8, 2026

3:05 University Business

3:20 Faculty Senate Business

3:35 Report

Honors Program Annual Report

3:45 Information

EPC Report - September 3, 2026

4:00 Additional Business

Faculty Authored Course Materials Policy

Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Rethinking Behavior - Fall 2026, Midwest Symposium For Leadership In Behavior Disorders

ReThinking Behavior Magazine

A magazine for professionals serving children and youth with behavioral needs.

Fall 2026, Volume 10, Issue 1

Temporary Cattle Identification: Benefits Of Marking With Hair Bleach, Melanie Heaton, Reganne K. Briggs, Rebekah Iverson, Brooke Holgate, David Secrist

All Current Publications

Temporary identification is an important management tool for beef producers. Animals are routinely marked following breeding, pregnancy diagnosis, vaccination, treatment, sorting, shipping, and marketing so they can be quickly identified without repeated handling. Effective temporary identification improves labor efficiency, reduces animal stress, and helps ensure management decisions are applied to the correct animals. This fact sheet provides information on temporary cattle marking using hair bleach.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda September 21, 2026, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

3:00 pm Call to Order

Approval of Minutes - August 24, 2026

3:05 University Business

3:20 Faculty Senate Business

3:35 Report

Honors Program Annual Report

3:45 Information

EPC Report - September 3, 2026

4:00 Additional Business

Faculty Authored Course Materials Policy

Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Innovating Effective Engineering Designs For Hazard Risk Reduction In North Carolina, Daniella Hirschfeld

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Agenda September 8, 2026, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

3:00 Call to Order

Approval of Minutes - April 27, 2026

3:05 University Business

3:20 Faculty Senate Business

3:35 Report

EPC Annual Report

Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence Annual Report

Center for Instructional Design and Innovation Annual Report

4:15 Additional Business

Adjourn: 4:30 pm

Educational Policies Committee Agenda September 3, 2026, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes
• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee
• Center for Civic Excellence
• Other Business
• Adjourn: 4:00 pm

Curriculum Subcommittee Agenda September 3, 2026, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Approval of Minutes
• R401 - Program Proposals
• Semester Course Approval Review
• Other Business
• Adjourn: 3:00 pm

Building Wellbeing Through Nature And Adventure For Justice-Involved Youth, Lewis Kogan, Meagan Ricks, Janna Coulter, Miranda Margetts, Lori Butterfield, Ben Ukoh-Eke

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Justice-involved youth often experience elevated levels of stress, mental health challenges, and reduced access to positive developmental opportunities. A nature- and adventure-based youth development program designed to strengthen resilience, self-efficacy, nature-connectedness, and well-being among justice-involved youth was piloted in 2025 to address these challenges. Pilot findings indicated improvements in resilience, self-efficacy, hopefulness, and connectedness to nature.

Expanding Access To Outdoor Recreation Through Adaptive Trail Riding In Utah, Makenna L. Pahlke

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Limited access to outdoor recreation limits opportunities for people with disabilities to enjoy the physical and psychosocial benefits of horseback riding. The Utah State University Equine Experience, an Extension program focused on horses, assessed an adaptive trail riding initiative for participants aged 12 to 40. Findings showed improvements in confidence, self-awareness, engagement, and social connections, highlighting the public benefit of enhancing accessible equine-assisted activities.

Best Practices For Managing Human–Beaver Conflicts In North America: Balancing Ecological Benefits And Human Interests, Alec J. Sundelius, Jerry Altermatt, Doug Brimeyer, Derek J. Broman, Jared Duquette, Cory Mosby, Falyn Owens, Shawn Rossler, David B. Ruid, Brian F. Wakeling, H. Bryant White

Human–Wildlife Interactions Monographs

We explore the complexities of managing beaver (Castor canadensis) conflicts in North America, describing the most common approaches used by natural resource management agencies to address conflicts. We identify specific conflicts caused by beavers, the ecological benefits beavers provide, and the tools commonly used to address conflicts. We discuss regional differences in beaver management strategies, including ecosystem restoration and conflict prevention. We specifically discuss a variety of management practices including public education, land use management, trapping, translocation, exclusion, shooting, dam removal, repellants, and harvest incentive programs; we then review the challenges and benefits of these tools. We discuss …

A Discrepancy Evaluation Of Workforce Capacity And Emerging Skills: A Utah Case Study, Lendel K. Narine, Paul A. Hill, Andreé Walker-Bravo

Extension Research

This study examined employer-perceived competency discrepancies, anticipated competency requirements, hiring barriers, and valued educational experiences in Utah. Survey data were collected between September and October 2025 from 226 individuals with hiring responsibility in Utah-based organizations. The Ranked Discrepancy Model (RDM) quantified discrepancies between respondents’ ratings of competency importance and their satisfaction with demonstrated employee proficiency. Respondents reported the largest discrepancies for time management, critical thinking, conflict resolution, ethical judgment, and verbal communication of ideas. Respondents rated communication, collaboration, analytical thinking, and lifelong learning highest among competencies anticipated to matter most over the next five to ten years. Most employers identified …

Operational Resilience In Cubesat Tracking Operations Through Complementary Architectures At Dss-17, Andrea Togni, Emily Walter, Chloe Hart, Ryan Collins, Noah Patrick, Christo Smith, Nathan Fite, Benjamin Malphrus, Marc Sanchez-Net

Small Satellite Conference

Loss of phase-locked loop (PLL) lock during CubeSat tracking can simultaneously eliminate both telemetry and Doppler observables, leaving operators blind during critical mission phases. While closed-loop receivers provide high-precision tracking under nominal conditions, they remain vulnerable to low signal-to-noise ratio, rapid Doppler dynamics, oscillator instability, and modeling errors. This single-point failure mode reduces operator situational awareness precisely when it is most needed. This work presents a dual-acquisition architecture that eliminates single point failure in CubeSat ground tracking. Implemented at DSS-17, Morehead State University's 21-meter deep-space antenna, the system pairs a conventional closed-loop modem with a parallel open-loop receiver implemented on …

Automatic Modulation Classification For Spectrum Sensing In Shared Satellite–Lte/5g Bands, Nahal Maleki, Todd Williams, Ulugbek Jainakov, Jason Jugar, Gilberth Caamano, Jeffrey Arnold

Small Satellite Conference

Automatic modulation classification (AMC) is a critical capability for spectrum monitoring, interference detection, and signal identification in increasingly congested satellite and terrestrial communication environments. This paper presents a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based AMC framework that classifies analog, digital, and multicarrier communication signals directly from raw in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples. The proposed framework supports twelve modulation classes, including binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature PSK (QPSK), 8PSK, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM), 64QAM, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)4, Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK), continuous phase FSK (CPFSK), broadcast FM (B-FM), single-sideband amplitude modulation (SSB-AM), double-sideband AM (DSB-AM), and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing …

Scaling Orbital Dynamics To The Laboratory: An Industrial-Robot Hardware-In-The-Loop Testbed For Small Satellites, Kelsey Tresemer, Shawn Higbee, Eric Albin, Steven Magana-Zook, Monwen Shen, Aaron Peer, Eric Reichel, Miranda Stern, Steve Hunter, Zach Shields

Small Satellite Conference

This paper summarizes an emerging hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) capability that uses collaborative robots (cobots) to reproduce satellite relative motion in a laboratory environment. The system maps orbital dynamics into a room-scale workspace while preserving mission-relevant pose evolution for small satellite applications such as rendezvous and proximity operations, formation flying, inspection, and cislunar concepts. The platform treats robot selection as a multi-parameter trade among workspace, orientation coverage, payload capacity, stiffness, acceleration, and path-tracking performance. Representative motion profiles define the required operating envelope, and the facility supports modular payloads that can host optics, avionics, inertial units, and flight computers. An external metrology system …

The Billion Dollar Surprise: How Solar Cycle 25 Cut Satellite Lifetimes In Leo, Scott Shambaugh

Small Satellite Conference

Solar Cycle 25 has run far stronger than the 2019 consensus forecast issued by the NOAA/NASA/ISES prediction panel, with densities in low Earth orbit from 2022-2026 holding at 2-3x the predicted levels. The cumulative drag impulse experienced by LEO satellites, which is the driving metric for propellant budgets and mission lifetimes, reached 5-6 standard deviations beyond the forecast’s stated uncertainty. This means that even operators who designed conservatively against the two-sigma worst case fell short of their drag budgets. This paper quantifies a lower bound on the economic cost of that misprediction.

Starting from the 13,704 payloads on-orbit below 800 …

Catarina-A2: A Cubesat-Based Approach To Environmental Data Collection Using Sdr Technology In The Catarina Constellation, Gabriel Mariano Marcelino, Carlos Augusto Porto Freitas, Carlos Eduardo Possamai, Heitor Azuma Kagueiama, Elço João Dos Santos Junior, Flávio Gabriel Oliveira Barbosa, Paulo Alberto Macedo Vieira Violada

Small Satellite Conference

The Catarina Constellation is a Brazilian small-satellite initiative conceived to expand and modernize national space-based services through low-cost, scalable, and application-oriented CubeSat missions. Structured into mission-specific fleets, the constellation is designed to address strategic national needs while simultaneously fostering technological development and industrial capability within Brazil. Its first fleet is dedicated to environmental data collection, supporting governmental agencies and research institutions that rely on timely and reliable information for environmental monitoring, water resource management, and agricultural planning. Within this context, the Catarina-A2 mission represents a key step in the deployment of the constellation’s environmental data collection segment. Catarina-A2 is a …

Enabling Multi-Manifest Launch Agility For Responsive Space Access, Erik C. Mellquist, Akhil Gujral, Vinay Goyal, Jacob Rome, Randolph Kendall

Small Satellite Conference

The Aerospace Corporation in collaboration with the United States Space Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Program continues to make investments towards improving access to space by increasing launch responsiveness, resiliency, and agility. This includes a significant increase in the focus on launching multiple spacecraft on a single launch vehicle. These multi-manifest launches provide several benefits including cost efficiency, increased launch opportunities, diversification of risk, and improved access to space. Though there are many benefits associated with multi-manifest launches, the aggregation of multiple mission partners can increase complexity and schedule risk. One of the most significant complications with multi-manifest launches …

Access To Space For Nasa Small Sats: Current And Future Needs, Alicia Mendoza-Hill, Katherine Nelson

Small Satellite Conference

Small spacecraft technology advancements have fundamentally shifted how NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) executes science investigations. To support this approach, the SMD Rideshare Office (SRO) was established in 2020 to lead the definition and implementation of a directorate-wide rideshare strategy. Serving as the central point of contact for coordinating compatible NASA payloads with launch opportunities, the SRO maximizes science, exploration, and technology return on investment by enabling rideshare or other access to space opportunities for small spacecraft on SMD primary mission launches, Venture Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract commercial launch procurements, and other government agency launch opportunities. …

In-Orbit Demonstration Of Pbi Water Ion Thruster: Rapid Startup Capability For Small Satellite Missions, Yuichi Nakagawa, Kazuya Yaginuma

Small Satellite Conference

As small satellite constellations proliferate, the demand for safe, responsive propulsion systems has intensified to support agile orbital maneuvering. To address the lengthy startup downtimes of conventional systems, a 1U-class water-based ion thruster utilizing electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma generation was developed. This thruster is characterized by a drastically minimized Time-to-Thrust (TTT), which maximizes the operational window for primary payload activities. Extensive ground testing established a robust baseline, demonstrating a 99.9% ignition success rate across 2,476 automated firing cycles with a highly reproducible median TTT of 73 seconds. Ground validations also confirmed an operational lifespan supporting a total impulse exceeding …

Scaling Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy Operations With Simple Temporal Networks: Introducing Splinter, Michael Iatauro, Caleb Adams, Caroline Lassiter

Small Satellite Conference

The Absolute Time Sequence (ATS) is a well-established mechanism for high-level spacecraft control, executing commands at specific times. One weakness of ATSs is that the cost of making a change to the command sequence grows with the length of the sequence, and the cost paid is many repetitive-but-detailed changes to the timing of commands, which is error-prone.

This weakness becomes a liability when scaling up to spacecraft swarms or long ATS durations because any perturbation to the command sequence or schedule incurs significant cost. Fitting that cost within a small team or short sequence development timeline becomes a central challenge …

Music Hall Thruster For The Space Trajectory Demonstrator 1.0 Mission, George-Cristian Potrivitu, Matteo Laterza, Suryono Gunawan Ali, Justin Ong, Jian Wei Mark Lim, Nikolay Vedenkin

Small Satellite Conference

The MUSIC Hall thruster has been selected as the propulsion system for the Space Trajectory Demonstrator 1.0 mission. The propulsion system is based on four baseline MUSIC 4U systems with two Xe tanks and a planned total impulse of at least 150 kNs. The four thruster units can provide up to 12 mN of combined thrust and the system will be used for orbit raising. The satellite platform is a 50 kg-class microsatellite scheduled to launch in Q3 2027 with a KSLV-II launcher from the Republic of Korea. MUSIC STD 1.0 propulsion system follows an 18-month long development timeline with …

In-Orbit Demonstration Of The Vyom-2u: A Green Monopropellant-Based Propulsion System Onboard Isro's Pslv C60 Poem-4, Ashtesh Kumar, Tushar Jadav, Prashant Singh, Rajat Kumar, Sajo George, Sivakami S., Rohit Shanbhag, Neel Gharat, Shubham Singh, Henry Sam, Suman Vadla

Small Satellite Conference

Vyom 2U is a compact 2U green monopropellant propulsion system designed to deliver a total impulse of 1700 Ns. At Beginning-of-Life (BOL) conditions, corresponding to a tank pressure of 24 bar, the thruster can deliver up to 1.1 N with a specific impulse of approximately 250 s, while requiring a peak electrical power of 15 W. At an operating pressure of 14 bar, the propulsion system delivers a thrust of approximately 0.67 N with a specific impulse of about 238 s. This operating point was deliberately selected for in-orbit operations to maintain sub-newton thrust levels compatible with the attitude control …

Initial Flight Test Data Of The Duplex 6u Satellite And The Fppt And Mvp Thrusters, Conor Blount, Magdalena Parta, Chris Young, Andrew Woodruff, Brendan Schulz, Darren King, Curtis Woodruff, Iain Murphy, David Carroll

Small Satellite Conference

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) funded CU Aerospace (CUA) to develop and fabricate the Dual Propulsion Experiment (DUPLEX) 6U CubeSat to perform an on-orbit mission demonstration of two new polymer fiber electric propulsion technologies developed by CUA using NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) funding. Both new propulsion technologies have multiple advantages: they utilize no fluid propellant, no pressure vessel, no valves to clog or leak, and no toxic materials. The 1.7U fiber-fed pulsed plasma thruster (FPPT) uses spooled Teflon filament as its propellant, has extremely high total impulse ( > 29,000 N-s) with high specific impulse ( > 3,500 s), …

High Data Rate Scalable N X 100g Transceiver For Cube/Small Sats For Cis-Lunar, Geo, And Data Center Applications, Christopher Krush, Alexandra Castle-Jones, Victoria Kennedy, Keith G. Petrillo, Mark Storm

Small Satellite Conference

Optical data transport in the cis-lunar regime is an enabling capability for sustained lunar exploration, space-based astronomy, and distributed sensing architectures. This paper presents the design, analysis, and experimental validation of a 100 Gb/s-class coherent optical communication transceiver that extends beyond LEO to GEO and cis-lunar applications. Target missions include lunar constellations, relays at Earth–Moon L1, and direct-to-Earth links, with relevance to NASA Artemis campaigns, enabling a future lunar infrastructure, and high-throughput science missions. This technology also supports future space data centers with the potential for Terabit optical links using WDM.

System-level performance requirements are derived from a parametric link …

Multi Network Optical And Rf Communications For The Esa Ops-Sat Oriole Mission: Design Challenges And Operational Readiness, Mari Allik, Silver Lodi, Lauri Kimmel

Small Satellite Conference

The increasing availability of Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) networks and recent advances in optical communications are creating new opportunities for small satellite missions. While both technologies offer significant operational benefits, combining them within a single mission architecture introduces challenges that extend beyond the communication subsystem itself. Differences in provider interfaces, scheduling workflows, operational procedures, regulatory constraints, and communication availability must be addressed before such architectures can be used routinely.

The ESA OPS-SAT ORIOLE (Optical Relay and Infrared Optics for LEO Experiments) mission explores a communication architecture combining conventional RF communication systems with optical communication capabilities within a unified …