Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Without A Traditional Textbook, Jen Burbank, Stephanie Western

Empowering Teaching Excellence Conference

Record numbers of faculty have introduced digital content options into their courses since going online in the spring of 2020. Many of the changes to course structure and increased use of Canvas as well as alternative text options are here to stay. Learn how to ditch that traditional textbook and make use of open educational resources (OER). Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are free to use, adapt, and redistribute. With the cost of college education increasing, it is more important than ever to include freely accessible course materials for students whenever possible. Come and learn …

Teacher As Student: Matters Of Exploration And Radical Vulnerability In The Classroom, Elizabeth Giardina

Exploring How We Teach

• GSIs can find pedagogical value in demonstrating an exploratory learning process, and, in sharing the partialities that come with that process, we can find opportunities for our own intellectual development and well-being.
• Radical vulnerability is a powerful tool for building a community of responsibility and care.
• Acts of transparent vulnerability can reframe course content as relevant to students’ broader lives, while also modeling a method of community- and self-care.

Graduate Teaching Communities Of Practice: Fostering A Sense Of Belonging And Professional Development For Graduate Students, By Graduate Students, April Athnos, Tianyi Kou-Herrema, Matthew Langley, Emile Oshima, Harrison Parker, Hima Rawal, Olivia Wilkins, Alexandra Lee, Seth Hunt, Ellen Searle, Nathalie Marinho

Exploring How We Teach

• Communities of Practice provide explicit formal recognition for teaching work and serve as a network of pedagogical resources.
• Communities of Practice create a safe space and a strengthened sense of community.
• Communities of Practice can be formed anywhere to meet any set of needs but always thrive with members’ agency and institutional support.

Don't Forget To Breathe: Advice For Coping With Graduate Teaching Anxiety, Ryan Cheek

Exploring How We Teach

• Graduate teaching anxiety is a unique form of communication apprehension.
• Ignore your overactive amygdala. Teaching will not kill you.
• Teach with empath. Students are more afraid of you than you are of them.
• Don’t forget to breathe. A hospitable atmosphere is key to successful teaching.
• Institutions should better support their graduate student instructors.

Navigating Evidence And Knowledge Equity, J. Nick Fisk

Exploring How We Teach

• Graduate instructors are awkwardly situated in the academy, which shapes their agency in teaching effectively and developing their own teaching practice.
• Evidence is a potentially fraught construct that is nonetheless necessary and accepted in the academy and can be leveraged in lieu of the often-wanting personal authority of graduate instructors to advocate better teaching practices while also developing themselves professionally.
• Principles of knowledge equity, which is foundationed on a pluralistic epistemological approach to knowledge building, can guide graduate instructors to consider a more expansive view and contextual approach to evidence to better serve students.
• Adoption of evidence-supported practices in the …

How Can Graduate Instructors Promote Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Their Courses?, Taneisha Vilma, Natalie Low

Exploring How We Teach

In this chapter, readers will find

• Strategies to include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices when designing the course syllabus.
• Considerations for fostering equity among students through the format and scoring of course assessments.
• Methods to include diverse cultures and contexts in course materials to increase representation.
• Strategies for promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in various components of a course by graduate instructors who have different levels of course autonomy.

Teaching For Black Girls: What Every Graduate Student Instructor Can Learn From Balck Girlhood Studies, Theresa Hice-Fromille

Exploring How We Teach

• The neoliberal university undervalues teaching and upholds standardization practices that reproduce harm towards marginalized students. Black Studies approaches to education challenge these education standards.
• Teaching for Black girls is a pedagogical approach derived from Black Girlhood Studies in which the instructor commits to engage students as their co-creator, co-witness, and co-conspirator.
• All graduate student instructors can implement curricular tools and instill pedagogical values, such as instructor responsibility, student agency, collaboration, and reflexivity, to engage a practice of teaching for Black girls. In so doing, instructors model behaviors that promote Black girl thriving within and beyond the classroom.
• Instructors in STEM …

Collaborative Research: Developing Advanced Magnesium Electrolytes Toward Low Cost, High Energy Density Mg Batteries, Tianbiao Liu

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Planttracker: An R Package To Translate Maps Of Plant Occurrence Into Demographic Data, Alice E. Stears, Peter B. Adler, Shannon E. Albeke, David H. Atkins, Jared Studyvin, Daniel C. Laughlin

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

1. Long-term demographic data are rare yet invaluable for conservation, management, and basic research on the underlying mechanisms of population and community dynamics. Historical and contemporary mapped datasets of plant location and basal area present a relatively untapped source of demographic records that, in some cases, span over 20 years of sequential data collection. However, these maps do not uniquely mark individual plants, making the process of collecting growth, survival, and recruitment data difficult.
2. Recent efforts to translate historical maps of plant occurrence into shapefiles make it possible to use computer algorithms to track individuals through time and determine individual growth …

Nachos, A Cubesat-Based High-Resolution Uv-Visible Hyperspectral Imager For Remote Sensing Of Trace Gases: System Overview, Science Objectives, And Preliminary Results, Steven P. Love, Kirk W. Post, Logan A. Ott, Magdalena E. Dale, Claira L. Safi, Kerry G. Boyd, Hannah D. Mohr, Christian Ward, Michael Caffrey, James P. Theiler, Bernard R. Foy, Markus Hehlen, Charles Glen Peterson, Ryan Hemphill, James A. Wren, Arthur A. Guthrie, Nicholas A. Dallmann, Paul S. Stein, Aaron G. Meyer, Manvendra K. Dubey

Small Satellite Conference

The Nano-satellite Atmospheric Chemistry Hyperspectral Observation System (NACHOS) is a high-throughput (f/2.9), high spectral resolution (1.3 nm optical, 0.57 nm sampling) hyperspectral imager covering the 300-500 nm spectral region with 350 spectral bands. The combined 1.5U instrument payload and 1.5U spacecraft bus comprise a 3U CubeSat. Spectroscopically similar to NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which provides wide-field coverage at ~20 km spatial resolution, NACHOS offers complementary targeted measurements at far higher spatial resolution of ~0.4 km/pixel from 500 km altitude over its 15 ̊ across-track field of view. NACHOS incorporates highly streamlined onboard gas-retrieval algorithms, alleviating the need to routinely …

Cislunar Small Satellites And The Artemis Program, James Spann

Small Satellite Conference

No abstract provided.

Small Spacecraft Sample Return Mission Concept To Support Gateway And Lunar Science, Alan M. Cassell, Jeffrey D. Smith, Matthew M. Wittal, Randy D. Gordon, Jennifer G. Morgan

Small Satellite Conference

Sustaining long-term presence at the Moon will likely require innovative and cost-effective approaches for frequent and affordable payload return. NASA Ames Research Center and the Deep Space Logistics team at Kennedy Space Center (which manages the Gateway Logistics Services missions) have investigated the development of a small spacecraft-based sample return capability to complement the limited sample return capacity available with the early Orion missions. The goal is to demonstrate a cost-effective capability as part of an early Deep Space Logistics mission and provide up to 10 kg (~ 4 L volume) of scientific payload returned from the Gateway. The mission …

Hop Queue: Hyperspectral Onboard Processing Queue Demonstration, Kelly Gresham Davis, Aditya Kher, Jathan Biddlecomb, Dustin Baumgartener, Mike Tsao, Mustapha Saad, Vinay Agarwal, Kenny Tan, Margaret Trippe, James Ulcickas, Bridget Tannian, Neil Goldstein, Megan Stark, Marsha Fox

Small Satellite Conference

The HOP Queue (Hyperspectral Onboard Processing Queue) demonstration leverages emerging COTS AI accelerators and GPUs to perform on-board processing of hyperspectral imagery data, with the aim of providing near- real time conservation-oriented data and metrics from Low Earth Orbit (LEO). These include forest health, fire detection, and coastal water health. Phase 1 of this project is currently underway, including a completed lab demonstration of this technology and ongoing flight testing. The data from this mission will support Northrop Grumman’s enterprise “Technology for Conservation” campaign and will be provided to NASA’s Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) organization, as well as other …

A Compact Gamma Ray And X-Ray Detector For Cube Satellites, Luke Kohler, Michael Quach, Matthew Roberts, Aisling Acuna, Brooke Webster

Small Satellite Conference

Cosmic radiation continues to be a constant threat to any prolonged space mission. Harboring biological or non-biological payloads aboard a spacecraft traveling in space, cosmic radiation showers ionizing particles such as gamma and x-ray particles from our neighboring stars in our solar system and galaxy clusters. These ionizing particles create extensive issues for extended space missions such as traveling to Mars due to their degrading radiation effects on the human body and spacecraft electronics. Although precise instruments give more accurate results, they are presented as expensive, bulky, and heavy for space missions. This paper presents the background, capabilities, and opportunity …

Project Poke: Developing A Stem Community To Offset Learning Loss Amidst Covid Pandemic Through Aerospace Technologies Project-Based Learning In Hawaii's K-12 Classrooms, Kelly Ngo, Aksel Sloan, Christopher Amendola, Luke Clements, Amber Imai-Hong, Frances Zhu

Small Satellite Conference

Project POKE (Providing an Opportunity for the Keiki in Engineering) is a unique opportunity for middle and high school keiki (‘children’ in Hawaiian) in Hawaii to gain hands-on aerospace experience through interaction with a 1U CubeSat kit. The focus of the project is to build a STEM community based on collaboration and project-based learning to offset learning loss amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Project POKE program includes an educator course, CubeSat kit, collaborative digital space, open-ended design challenge, and symposium. Middle and high school teachers concurrently participate in the program’s educator course and meet with their students to teach the …

Spectral Ocean Color (Spoc): Lessons Learned From The University Of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory's First Satellite, Sydney Whilden, Deepak Mishra, David L. Cotten, Nicholas Neel

Small Satellite Conference

In October 2020, the University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory launched its first CubeSat, a 3U Earth-observation mission designed to collect multispectral data from Georgia’s coastal environments for UGA’s Center for Geospatial Research to make recommendations on environmental conservation, care, and use. SPOC successfully detumbled, but after approximately a month in orbit, a coronal mass ejection (we speculate) caused us to lose contact. Despite our disappointment at the loss of SPOC, we are leveraging the lessons learned for our upcoming missions. These lessons can be categorized in four principal areas: software (flight and payload), mission operations, testing, and educational …

Heavy Metal Levels And Sources In Suspended Particulate Matters Of The Glacier Watersheds In Northeast Tibetan Plateau, Rui Wu, Zhiwen Dong, Xiping Cheng, Janice Brahney, Xiaoyu Jiao, Lihua Wu

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

This study collected summer meltwater runoff samples from several glacier watersheds of the northeast Tibetan Plateau during June-July 2017, and measured the concentrations of 17 trace elements (Li, Be, Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Mo, Cd, In, Sb, Cs, Ba) in meltwater suspended particulate matter (SPM), in order to reveal the elemental concentration, spatial distribution, and water quality in remote glacier watershed under regional anthropogenic activities. Results showed that, the concentration of heavy metal elements was relatively high in Yuzhufeng Glacier basin, ranging from 0.57 μg/L (In) to 1,551.6 μg/L (Ba), whereas in Qiyi Glacier basin …

The Benefits Of Growth-Promoting Implants For Beef Cattle, Caleb C. Reichhardt, Reganne K. Briggs, Laura Motsinger, Kara Thornton-Kurth, Matthew D. Garcia

All Current Publications

Growth-promoting implants have been used in the cattle industry for decades. Their benefits allow cattle producers to become more sustainable by decreasing the amount of resources used. Resources such as water and land are decreased when using growth-promoting implants in beef cattle.

Medicaid Expansion: Changes In Individual Health Outcomes, Julie Norman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Affordable Care Act is one of the biggest changes in the American healthcare system in the 21st century. One element of the ACA is medicaid expansion, which opened up federal funding for states to cover any individual earning below 138% of the federal poverty line. 21 states expanded medicaid in 2014 while 12 haven’t expanded. This paper utilizes the disparity for a natural experiment to determine the efficacy of the program. Outcome variables of interest include measurements of individual health, health access and utilization, and premature death rates. The results indicate positive, but small improvements due to the policy, …

Storing Water For The Environment: Operating Reservoirs To Improve California’S Freshwater Ecosystems, Sarah Null, Jeffrey Mount, Brian Gray, Kristen Dybala, Gokce Sencan, Anna Sturrock, Barton Thompson, Harrison Zeff

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

California’s freshwater ecosystems—its lakes, rivers, floodplains, meadows, natural and managed wetlands, and estuaries—are a vital part of the state’s natural infrastructure. These ecosystems provide numerous benefits, including water supply, hydropower, flood control, fisheries, recreation, and cultural and aesthetic value. They are also home to the nation’s most diverse array of plant and animal communities, with numerous freshwater species found only in California (Jensen et al. 1993; Grantham et al. 2017).

An Evaluation Of Landscape, Climate, And Management Impacts On Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) In Agroecosystems, Morgan Elizabeth Christman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bumble bees play pivotal roles in pollinating wild and cultivated plant communities. Unfortunately, bumble bee populations are declining due to disturbances such as landscape conversion and climate change. Additionally, traps used to monitor pest insect populations often capture bumble bees, leading to a concern that trap captures increase bumble bee mortality. First, I studied bumble bee communities based on land cover and weather variables in agricultural fields in Utah. Bumble bee communities were more diverse in agricultural fields with more agricultural land in the surrounding area, low temperatures, and high humidity during the growing season, and less diverse in fields …

Dynamic System Discovery With Recursive Physics-Informed Neural Networks, Jarrod Mau

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents a novel method, recursive Physics informed neural network, to learn the right hand side of differential equations. The neural network takes in data, then trains, and then acts as a proxy for the differential equation which can be used for modeling. We show the theoretical superiority of the recursive approach. We also use computer simulations to demonstrate the proved properties.

Biodiversity And Foraging Preferences Of Bee Communities At Pinnacles National Park Over Time, Abigail M. E. Lehner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bees are considered to be the most important animal pollinator, providing billions of dollars in pollination services each year. Despite their importance in both natural and agricultural settings, the status of most native bees is unknown. Native bees are subject to a variety of threats including habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. Yet, monitoring programs have been implemented in few natural areas. Pinnacles National Park, PNP, in California is one of the only natural areas to have a large historical dataset on bees across decades with surveys conducted in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2011, and 2012. These surveys …

Cuo Nanoparticles Solubility As Influenced By Soil Pore Water, Native Microorganisms, And Wheat Rhizosphere Chemistry In A Sand Matrix, Dakota Sparks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles less than 100 nm (~4 millionths of an inch) in a direction. NPs, due to their small size, are used in a variety of products, such as silver (Ag) NPs as an antimicrobial in clothes. Copper Oxide (CuO) NPs are used in electronics as semiconductors and other fields as antimicrobials and purposefully or accidentally end up in the environment. Copper (Cu) is a necessary nutrient for plants, but at higher amounts is toxic to plants and beneficial soil microbes.

In order to understand how the CuO NPs interacts with plants, wheat seedlings were grown in sand …

Holocene Chronostratigraphy Of Dune Fields In Southern Utah: Geomorphic Record Of Past Aridity In The Central Colorado Plateau, Harriet S. Cornachione

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The southwestern United States is characterized by dry climate, and droughts are common. The region is currently in an extreme drought that began in 2000 CE and has lasted longer than any previous drought in at least 500 years. Models predict greater future climate extremes under human-caused climate change. Understanding of the natural range of climate variability is important to put these changes in context. Sedimentary archives of past sand dune activity can help extend the available instrumental observations (last century) and tree-ring records (last millennium).

Sand dunes are landforms that are sensitive to aridity and decreased vegetation cover. They …

Conservation Genetics Of A Declining Bumble Bee In Western North America; The Influence Of Geography, Dispersal Limitation, And Anthopogenic Activity, Ashley T. Rohde

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Conservation biology addresses the problem of species loss by identifying species in need of protection. Conservation biology has subfields to address different aspects of biodiversity loss, including genetics and sociology. I used genetic approaches to assess the conservation status of western bumble bees, a bumble bee species of conservation concern.

The western bumble bee is a bumble bee species that ranges from Alaska to New Mexico and as far east as Wyoming and Colorado. This species is disappearing in some places. It may soon be listed as endangered in the United States and is already listed as endangered in parts …

Contributions Of Vision To The Neuromotor Control And Biomechanics Of Depth Jumping, Kenneth Harrison

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of vision during depth jump movements and further explore effects of stroboscopic goggles on the motor control of landing. METHODS: Ground reaction force (GRF), rate of force development (RFD), and lower limb surface electromyography measurements were collected on 20 participants (11 male 9 female) across 6 trials of depth jumping (0.51 m) in each of two visual conditions (full vision vs stroboscopic vision). Root-mean-square was estimated from EMG signals that were reduced to specific time-bins (150ms pre touchdown, 30-60ms, 60-85 ms, and 85-120 ms post touchdown). Main effects of and interactions between visual condition and …

Soil Genesis Across A Climo-Lithosequence Of Western Haleakalā, Maui, Ryan C. Hodges

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The soils of western Haleakalā are incredibly diverse due to two primary reasons: 1) they receive varying levels of rainfall based on location relative to Haleakalā, and 2) volcanic vents upwind of the area indicate that volcanic ash has blanketed much of western Haleakalā in the past. Ash can weather to form short-range-order materials, which contribute to the classification of andic soil properties. Due to their structure, short-range-order materials impart soil behavior that creates benefits and challenges in land management. Therefore, an understanding of how these soils formed and differ, and where andic soils occur is crucial.

The objectives of …

A Bayesian Hierarchical Approach For Modeling Virtual Species With Realistic Functional Trait Relationships, Sarah Bogen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant populations has important implications for the fields of ecology and conservation. A rich body of mathematical modeling approaches, including reaction-diffusion equations and integrodifference equations, have been developed to mechanistically model population spread based on species demography and seed dispersal characteristics. However, with over 390,000 plant species on Earth, it is not feasible to collect complete information on all species for the purpose of drawing generalized conclusions. One means of overcoming such a problem is through trait-based modeling, which seeks to represent realistic combinations of organismal traits rather than focusing on individual species. …

Management Of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata), Sahara Mustard (Brassica Tournefortii), And Elongated Mustard (Brassica Elongata) In Utah, Natalie Layne Fronk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The invasive mustard species Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and elongated mustard (Brassica elongata) negatively impact a variety of ecological systems across the state of Utah. The distribution of these species in Utah is relatively limited at the current time. If prompt action is taken, it may be possible to contain and manage these species before irreparable ecological and agricultural damage occurs. For this reason, all three mustards are listed by the State of Utah as weeds of high priority for management.

This project tested multiple strategies to determine effective species-specific …