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 …

Toward Optimizing Fruit Production In Utah Soils: Apple Salt Tolerance Screening And Tart Cherry Fertility Management, Kaitlin Dabbs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Fruit production in Utah can be challenging due to local climate and soil conditions. Tart cherries and apples are major fruit crops in Utah, and improvements to these cropping systems would be beneficial for farmers and local consumers. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate desired improvements for these crops. The first study looked for salt tolerance in ten new apple rootstocks. Salty soils can be found throughout the state limiting the land suitable for apple production. When grown in salty soils apple trees often have reduced growth and production potential. A specialized drip irrigation system was constructed in a greenhouse …

Wildfire And Fuel Treatments In Utah: A Practical Guide And Outcomes From An Oak-Maple Ecosystem, Annie E. Prescott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildfire is a natural part of Utah’s landscapes, but as wildfires become more extreme and communities continue to expand into wildland areas, it is increasingly important to understand how wildfires behave and how their negative effects can be mitigated. One way to reduce wildfire risks and protect life, property, and ecosystem services is through fuel treatments — actions that reduce the amount and arrangement of flammable vegetation through mechanical removal, wildland fire, or other methods.

Information on wildfire behavior and fuel treatments is abundant but often scattered, ecosystem-specific and difficult to access. In addition, most research in the Western U.S. …

Scalable Quality Assessment Of Ground Motion Records Via Interpretable Deep Learning Architectures, Ali Montazeri Namin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Earthquake engineers rely on accurate recordings of ground shaking to design safe and resilient buildings. However, sorting through thousands of these recordings to find the reliable ones and throwing out those ruined by sensor errors or background noise is traditionally done by hand. Because modern seismic networks collect massive amounts of earthquake data every day, this manual checking process is much too slow. To fix this, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to automatically check the quality of these recordings.

While artificial intelligence offers a fast solution, there are limitations. These computer models can become massive and expensive to run, …

Quasi-Poisson Analogs Of Regular Poisson Varieties, Casen Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Let G be a complex semisimple linear algebraic group with 𝐶 a conjugacy class of parabolic subgroups of G. In previous work, Dr. Crooks defines 𝑢_𝐶→ B_𝐶 , a universal flat family of a fine Hamiltonian Lagrangian G-bundles over 𝐶, and shows that 𝑢_𝐶 is a family of regular Poisson varieties. This manuscript introduces a natural candidate for a quasi-Poisson analog of Dr. Crooks’s construction, 𝑢_𝐶, using the framework of quasi-Poisson geometry established by Alekseev, Kosmann-Scwarzbach, and Meinrenken. It will be shown that this proposed quasi-Poisson analog indeed has a valid quasi-Poisson structure and …

The Willing And The Compelled: How Power And Place Shape Human-Bison Coexistence In Poland And The United States, Patrick Orville Kelly

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wildlife recovery programs depend not just on animals, but on how people feel about living with them. The degree to which people accept the disruptions wildlife brings to their lives, known as social tolerance, can determine whether a recovery program succeeds or fails, yet it remains understudied and underapplied in management plans. This dissertation studies how people in Poland and the western United States feel about living with the two living species of bison, the largest land animals in Europe and North America. In Poland, we surveyed 242 residents living at different distances from European bison habitat. Surprisingly, the most …

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

Home On The Range: Where Deer And Antelope Compete With Feral Horses For Limited Resources, Katelyn Davies, Hannah B. Klugman, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, David C. Stoner

All Current Publications

Given projections for continued drought conditions in the West, a better understanding of how native wildlife respond to competition with feral horses will be critical for developing effective conservation programs in the future. This fact sheet provides information on feral horses and presents study data comparing their use of water resources with that of native wildlife.

Implementation Of The Trojan Sex Chromosome Approach In The San Juan River: Investigation And Validation Of Feminization Methods For Channel Catfish, Chad Teal

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Research: Influence Of Fault Frictional Healing And Realistic Tectonic Loading Rates On Shallow Subduction Megathrust Locking, Srisharan Shreedharan

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Photochemistry At The Air-Aerosol Interface, Yi Rao

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Exceptional Holography (2025 Renewal, Revised Budget), Oscar Varela

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

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

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Cedar: Investigating The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere Neutral Temperature And Winds Responses To Geomagnetic Storms Equatorward Of The Auroral Zone, Tao Yuan

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Fast Computation And Model Order Reduction Of The Friction Stir Welding Process With Pod-Deim, Joshua Kay, Zilong Song

Mathematics and Statistics Student Research and Class Projects

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state manufacturing process widely used in joining aluminum and other metal workpieces. The FSW process can be modeled by a coupled system of non-Newtonian Navier–Stokes and heat-transfer equations. However, solving this non-linear system with high accuracy requires significant computational power. This work refines the system by introducing corrected coefficients and new treatments for boundary conditions near the tool. Then, model order reduction, including the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM), is applied to efficiently solve the FSW system in a low-dimensional space. To enhance accuracy and effectiveness, two novel treatments …

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

2026 Report On The State Of Great Salt Lake Social Science, Creed Jones, Avyrlie Smith, Shae Barber, Stacia Ryder, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Georgie Corkery, Jennifer Givens, Anna Mcentire, Carla Trentelman, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Kirsten Vinyeta, Bryn Watkins

Publications

Great Salt Lake (GSL) faces rapid decline that presents more than just a hydrological risk; it poses an existential social hazard. As water levels decline, ecosystems, economies, cultures, and societies face irreversible harm. Since the lake reached its lowest levels in 2022, this issue has specifically gained increased attention in Utah and beyond. Given both the degree to which human consumption contributes to the problem, and the potential risks that the drying of the lake poses for community health, social science research is a crucial for informing successful water management policies and mitigating impacts. The purpose of this report is …

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.

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 …

First Generation Of Project A.S.P.I.R.E. – A 1u Cubesat Mission For Technology Demonstration And Student Involvement In New Zealand, Shuanghui Zhao, Shunxing Shi, Kristen Lian, Rose Peens-Hough, Arami Peens-Hough, Changrui Wang, Joowon Hwang, Jerry Sun, Edward Sun

Small Satellite Conference

MOTIVATION

A feasibility study conducted at an Auckland secondary school in December 2024 found strong interest in satellite-related learning. Following an outreach presentation, 63 students (Majority aged 15 - 18) completed a questionnaire, with an average interest rating of 4.86/5. The most popular subjects were Orbital Physics, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering (fig. 1).

Beyond Parametric Adaptation: Periodic Redesign For Reaction Wheel Degradation In Precision Pointing Cubesats, Bruno Ingrao

Small Satellite Conference

CubeSat missions increasingly require sustained science-grade precision pointing over long durations. Although sub-arcsecond line-of-sight (LoS) stability is achievable, maintaining this performance is challenged by nonlinear, speed-dependent, and time-varying reaction wheel behavior. As actuator degradation progresses from beginning-of-life (BOL) to end-of-life (EOL), model-plant mismatch can lead to significant pointing degradation and potential loss of mission capability. This work investigates the limitations of fixed-gain and parametric adaptive control under degraded actuator conditions and proposes a periodic identification and controller redesign framework. The approach detects persistent model mismatch using innovation-based consistency and performance metrics, triggers on-orbit identification, and updates the actuator model using …

Radma: Resource-Aware, Dynamic Deployment Of Ml Architectures On An Edge Tpu In Space, Robert Rathert

Small Satellite Conference

As the number of Space Vehicles (SVs) orbiting Earth grows, downlink bitrate bottlenecks necessitate a shift to Orbital Edge Computing (OEC). Size, Weight, and Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) limit onboard Machine Learning (ML) autonomy, and State-of-the-Art (SotA) systems deploy static ML models that do not adapt to dynamic orbit conditions. This work proposes and evaluates RADMA, a resource-aware framework that selects Neural Network (NN) models in response to changing latency and energy constraints. We quantify the performance of RADMA on an open-hardware picosatellite payload that hosts a Google Coral Edge Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). Orbit simulation and modeling predict processing …

Validated Lie Group Variational Integrator-Based Simulator For Passive Magnetic Attitude Control Of The Gasrats Cubesat, Truman T. Abbe

Small Satellite Conference

Passive magnetic attitude control (PMAC) systems are selected for integration in CubeSat designs on account of their simplicity and lack of power consumption. These systems function by simultaneously dissipating a satellite’s rotational kinetic energy as heat and orienting it according to the Earth’s magnetic field. This process is critical for establishing steady-state attitude, a stable rotational state required for conducting mission operations and enabling downlink to ground stations. Comprehensive attitude simulations are necessary for confirming the reliability of a PMAC system to provide timely attitude convergence for a wide range of deployment velocities and orientations. An attitude damping phase precedes …

Citizen Science As A Long-Term Environmental Baseline: Assessing Impacts Of A Small Dam Removal In Montana, Usa, Bethany Blakey, Natalie Bursztyn

Watershed Sciences Student Research

As dam removals increase in frequency across Europe and North America, most research has focused on the impact of larger dam removals, despite the removal of small dams being much more common. There are hundreds of small dams in Montana, USA, and this research investigates impacts on stream ecology and morphology using citizen science data collected over eight years spanning before and after a 2020 small dam removal in Rattlesnake Creek. We analyzed pebble count grain size distributions and aquatic macroinvertebrate biotic indices from 2017 to 2024 to assess changes in sediment transport and macroinvertebrate population as well as evaluate …

Lightweight Open Source On-Spacecraft Machine Learning With Mlpack And F Prime, Ryan R. Curtin, Scott M. Gilliland, Sterling L. Peet

Small Satellite Conference

Onboard machine learning is an increasingly important topic in spaceflight systems, as machine learning and AI models are increasingly used for data processing, anomaly detection, attitude control systems, and other predictive applications. However, successfully deploying a machine learning model in a spaceflight computing environment is fraught with difficulty, as spaceflight computing environments are low-resource, but typical machine learning software solutions are implemented in languages like Python, which require an interpreter and other heavyweight dependencies. It is therefore virtually mandatory for any on-spacecraft machine learning to be written with lightweight toolkits that minimize dependencies and resource usage.

We demonstrate a solution …

Uncertainty Quantification And Platform Scattering For The Cimr Reflector Antenna, Tonny Rubaek, Pasquale Giuseppe Nicolaci, Cecilia Cappellin

Small Satellite Conference

The Copernicus Microwave Imaging Radiometer (CIMR) employs a 7.1 m conical scanning mesh reflector antenna rotating at 7.8 rpm that operates from L to Ka band. Demanding radiometric accuracies and sensitivities at few tenths of a Kelvin at high spatial resolution are targeted for the instrument. These require a high accuracy in the characterization and modelling of the antenna pattern over 4π, considering any nearby scattering structure, and/or any potential multipath due to the antenna installation on the S/C, as well as the quantification of the uncertainty on the beam efficiency (BE) arising (from possible in-orbit random variations in the …

Sar Disksat Demonstration Mission For Constellation In Vleo, Hirobumi Saito, Mitsuteru Kaneoka

Small Satellite Conference

We proposed a novel concept of quasi-two-dimensional SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellites, SAR DiskSats, in 2023 at this conference. This year, in 2026, the demonstration missions of SAR DiskSats are authorized by the Japanese government as a Space Strategy Fund’s Mission. This paper describes the concept and the mission scenario of the demonstration mission in 2028 and 2030. The SAR DiskSat features a deployable passive slot array antenna that can be compactly folded within the quasi-two-dimensional satellite body. This configuration allows for flexible solar cell sheets to be installed on the backside of the antenna, as the antennas do not …

Design Mechanism Framework For Autonomous Small Satellite Constellations – A Newspace Outlook, Mohammed Irfan Rashed

Small Satellite Conference

The increasing deployment of small satellite constellations is driving a transition from isolated spacecraft missions toward distributed and coordinated space operations. However, as constellation size and mission complexity grow, traditional ground-centric operational approaches become difficult to scale due to communication limitations, delayed decision-making, and increased operational workload. While autonomy has been widely explored through onboard algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques, there remains limited focus on how autonomy should be integrated into the systems engineering architecture of constellation missions. This paper presents a Design Mechanism Framework (DMF) for autonomous small satellite constellations that embeds autonomy directly into mission architecture, operational logic, …