Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

International Aid And Post-Conflict Recovery In The Western Balkans, R. Mary Wall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

After violent conflicts end, communities often receive international support to help rebuild their governments and economies. This study asks whether aid targeted toward physical reconstruction and institutional reform produces measurable outcomes in those areas. 

Examining five Western Balkans countries between 2000 and 2021, the study finds that infrastructure aid is associated with improved access to clean water and reductions in displaced populations, while aid directed toward strengthening government institutions shows no measurable association with improvements in government effectiveness within the same period. These findings suggest that in the years immediately following conflict, physical reconstruction produces more observable improvements than institutional …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Resources Shaping Science Teachers' Design And Implementation Of Scientific Argumentation Instruction: A Systematic Review, Nannan Fan, Eric A. Kirk, Minghui Zhu, Troy D. Sadler

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Scientific argumentation is a core scientific practice recognized by multiple national science standards, yet many science teachers experience challenges integrating it into their classrooms. This systematic review examined the resources identified by research as shaping teachers’ argumentation instruction and how these resources were reported to support teachers’ classroom practice. Guided by an adapted version of the Pedagogical Design Capacity Framework, we analyzed 79 empirical studies published between 1983 and 2025. Resources were categorized as personal, instructional, or contextual, and their specific supportive aspects were grouped according to their reported contributions. Personal resources included teachers’ beliefs, knowledge of argumentation, and pedagogical …

Toxic Plants In Zimbabwe: The Lantana Camara Species, Frank Kapungu, Cecilia Masvingwe

Poisonous Plant Research (PPR)

Lantana camara is a major invasive plant species in Zimbabwe. Its toxic effects pose a threat to livestock production, biodiversity, and development. A survey was carried out throughout the country to investigate the distribution of L. camara in Zimbabwe and assess the extent of its spread. Identification was done by toxicologists with the support of an experienced botanist from the National Herbarium of Zimbabwe. The location of the plants was identified using a portable Garmin eTrex® 10 Handheld GPS navigation device., and the coordinates were recorded. Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) was used to plot the map. L. camara was …

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

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 …

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 …

Layer 3 Switching, Todd R. Zatorski

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Design, Qualification, And Implementation Of Modular Spacecraft Radio Testing Enclosures For Small Satellite Missions, Dexter Stewart

Small Satellite Conference

As small satellite missions evolve, spacecraft platforms increasingly integrate radio-frequency (RF) antennas to support telemetry, command, and inter-satellite communication links that must be verified following full system integration. Recent changes in launch site safety policy, most notably SpaceX’s ban on over-the-air (OTA) testing, have created a critical gap in the ability to qualify spacecraft communication systems during testing at the launch site. This paper presents the design, qualification, and implementation of modular RF containment enclosures, known as ’antenna hats’, developed to enable safe, non-OTA testing of fully integrated small satellites. The antenna hats are self-contained enclosures that interface directly with …

Zerodur®: Comprehensive Data Enables The Reliability Of Evidence-Based Design, Dustin Ruth, Florian Gollier, Jesse Bonfeld, Dustin Ruth, Janina Krieg, Thomas Westerhoff, Tony Hull, Jacqueline Caraballo

Small Satellite Conference

ZERODUR® is a glass-ceramic formulated for high-performance optics under imperfect temperature control. Crystallites in a glass matrix balance expansion: crystals shrink while residual glass expands, preserving geometry at fine scale.

This yields the lowest passive thermal response of any optical material-enabling high-contrast, high-resolution, low-scatter imaging and minimal transmission leakage for SmallSat telescopes.

Semi-Autonomous Reconnaissance Satellite: A Laboratory Demonstration Of End-To-End On-Board Mission Autonomy, Eran Shtoyerman, Raphael Cohen, Rafi Cohen, Oshri Fatkiev, Guy Zaidman, Gal Pinchas, Doron Shterman

Small Satellite Conference

Real-time satellite responsiveness to user requests from the field remains largely unavailable in current space systems. Such capabilities are typically restricted to low-altitude airborne platforms, primarily due to limited satellite communication bandwidth, intermittent ground contact, and the reliance on ground-based mission planning. Enabling true responsiveness requires a paradigm shift toward highly autonomous satellites, in which target selection, task execution, and mission planning are performed on board.

For example, a user may request a satellite to perform the following task in real-time: detect a ceiling tanker ship in a specified area, estimate its velocity from video data, and autonomously track the …

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 …

The Space Cognitive Network: From Fractionated Spacecraft To Collaborative Ai-Enabled Space Infrastructure, Owen Brown, Dennis Gatens, Fred Kennedy, John Moberly, Rusty Thomas, Derek Tournear

Small Satellite Conference

Over the past two decades, small satellite architectures have undergone a fundamental transformation — from platform-centric spacecraft, to globally distributed data-centric constellations. This paper traces that evolution and argues that a third shift is now underway: cognition-centric space architectures enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) as infrastructure. 

We begin by revisiting one of the earliest disruptive space architecture concepts: the fractionated satellite. Developed at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the mid-2000s, the fractionation concept decomposes a monolithic spacecraft into distributed elements. While the original vision emphasized physical subsystem decomposition, the System F6 program ultimately revealed that the greatest …

Asynchronous One-Way Range (Aowr) – Alone Positioning And The Applications, Junichiro Kawagichi, Shingo Nishimoto

Small Satellite Conference

The paper first reports the recent operational results of the HOKUSHIN satellite. It explains how our extended code correlation method has performed and provides link threshold information, specifically the demonstrated C/N0 figures. The paper next focuses on cis-lunar space applications, beginning with direct AOWR-alone positioning directly from Earth using three or more small-aperture ground stations. The application employs a ‘Self-Positioning’ strategy. This system operates in cis-lunar space with 3-meter-class ground stations and CubeSats larger than 6U in size equipped with 200x300 mm patch-array antennas on. It enables universities and startups to conduct genuine lunar exploration. The team won the Strategic …

Intelligence Where Data Is Born: Vision Transformer-Based On-Orbit Change Detection For Earth Sensing, Matthew Morabito, Faries Tadros, Catherine Ordun, Michael S. Sellers, Daniel Wald

Small Satellite Conference

This paper introduces a model framework for autonomous hyperspectral segmentation that couples a foundation model with a supervised segmentation head to enable compact, high performance on-orbit scene understanding. This approach is designed to deliver end-to-end onboard processing, inference, confidence scoring, and prioritization so the spacecraft performs interpretation at or near image collection time and minimizes downlink usage by transmitting only high-value or high-interest outputs rather than full image streams. A key design element is adaptive intelligence over mission lifetime: low-size, over-the-air partial models updates as small as kb-scale enable post-launch retuning and mission-specific refinement without GB-scale data transfer. By reusing …

Magnetic Balancing For Microvibration Reduction In Passive Magnetic Bearings For Smallsat Reaction Wheels, Deckers Niel, Baekeland Mante, Cuypers Cedric, Seiler Rene, Vandepitte Dirk, Delabie Tjorven

Small Satellite Conference

Reduction and mitigation of microvibrations constitutes a crucial field of interest in the research of spacecraft reaction wheels. This applies all the more so in small satellites, where even minimal sources of vibrations lead to imprecision of onboard instruments. To address this, magnetic bearings offer contactless support, and thus prevent several sources of microvibrations that exist in classical ball bearings, for instance the mechanical imperfections in rolling elements. The inherently low stiffness of magnetic bearings also significantly reduces the transmitted forces in reaction wheels. Another advantage of contactless support is its potential longer lifetime because of the absence …

Delay/ Disruption Tolerant Networking In Cislunar Space, Sara Garcia-Beech, Rebecca Besser, Elizabeth Geist, Theresa Beech, Mike Palsson, Krishnan Narayanan, Ben Anderson

Small Satellite Conference

DTN (Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking) is at foundation of NASA's LunaNet architecture, which will enable the robust communications, navigation, and networking capabilities needed to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. DTN is a network architecture composed of several different protocols that are designed to provide internetworking functionality and standardized multi-hop, end-to-end data delivery in highly stressed environments that are not optimal for traditional Internet Protocols. Bundle Protocol (BP) version 7, a store-and-forward protocol intended to run at the application layer on top of convergence layer protocols, provides the key delay tolerance functionality of DTN and is designed to handle intermittent …

Recovery Of Grus-1e From Magnetic Torquer Loss Using Data-Driven Open-Loop Attitude Steering, Nader Ganaba, Takanori Iwata, Minoru Kurata

Small Satellite Conference

In typical low Earth orbit (LEO) operations, the inability to remove excess angular momentum often leads to the decommissioning of a satellite. This paper presents the on-orbit recovery of GRUS-1E, a hundred kg class Earth observation satellite in Axelspace Corporation’s GRUS-1 constellation. The recovery followed the permanent loss of magnetic torquer commanding capability, which in turn disabled the satellite’s nominal reaction wheel momentum unloading. In addition, the satellite experienced persistent disturbance torques that significantly exceeded the combined contributions predicted by standard models, including gravity gradient, solar radiation pressure, aerodynamic drag, and the estimated residual magnetic dipole moment. The magnitude of …

Disksat: On-Orbit Performance And Lessons Learned From The Inaugural Flight Of Two-Dimensional Satellites, Darren Rowen, Catherine Venturini, Garrett Kinum, Brian Hardy, Joseph Gangestad, Lisa Toda, Chris Day, Thomas Pridy, Eddson Alcid, Ziba Shahriary

Small Satellite Conference

DiskSat is a novel spacecraft design that uses a disk-shaped form factor, 1 meter in diameter but only 2.5 cm in depth, to provide unprecedented power-to-mass ratio in a nanosatellite and the potential to operate long-term in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The inaugural flight of four DiskSats launched on 18 December 2025 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on an Electron rocket, which delivered the satellites to a 550-km altitude orbit at an inclination of 45 deg. Developing DiskSat’s two-dimensional form factor presented a myriad of challenges for power generation, thermal management, attitude control, and deployment that could only be …

Advanced Ai Deployment On Smallsats: A Mixed Precision Approach To Onboard Perception And Fpga-Gated Inference, Margaret Michelsen, Jackson Gardner, Shawn Jones, Jackson Kulik, Mario Harper

Small Satellite Conference

MOTIVATION:

SmallSats are asked to make time-sensitive calls (vessel detection, cloud filtering, debris tracking) but CubeSat-class compute is starved for power, memory, and radiation-tolerant silicon.

Most missions still downlink raw imagery for ground processing, costing hours-to-days of latency and scarce bandwidth. Running inference onboard means solving two separate problems:

• When to run inference: compute and power budgets can’t tolerate a neural network firing on every frame.
• Whether it fits when it does run: the model has to live inside a memory and compute envelope measured in megabytes, not gigabytes.

Toward Plug-And-Play Sensor Integration: A Multi-Protocol Hardware Bridge For Nanosatellites, Pawan Kumar, Moritz P. Heimbach, Shayarrn Khatiwada, Jiten Thapa, Marco Schmidt

Small Satellite Conference

COTS sensors speak many protocols; but the satellite bus understands only a few. An FPGA hardware bridge board reroutes heterogeneous sensor protocols (UART, SPI, RS-422, RS-485) to the single communication channel with minimum latency supporting plug-and-play with no bus redesign.

Design Of A Passive Magnetic Bearing Reaction Wheel For Smallsats And Its Micro-Vibration Performance, Mante Baekeland, Konstantinos Gryllias, Dirk Vandepitte, Cedric Cuypers, Niel Deckers, Tjorven Delabie, René Seiler

Small Satellite Conference

Reaction wheels are a primary source of micro-vibrations aboard satellite platforms, limiting the fine-pointing capability of spacecraft. This paper presents a novel passive magnetic bearing reaction wheel featuring a magnetic–mechanical suspension to reduce operational vibration emissions compared with conventional ball bearing systems. The proposed suspension architecture combines radial permanent magnetic bearings with an axial single-point-contact ball pivot bearing, resulting in a compact, fully passive solution tailored for the SmallSat market. To demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, a hardware prototype was manufactured and tested. Stable operation is achieved across the full operational range up to 4800 rpm. The experimental campaign …

Flight Path: A Microservices Message-Passing Flight Software Architecture For Cesiumastro Element One Satellite, Dylan Pfeifer, Russell Gleason, Nick Bourdon, David Gholami, Daniel Zilavy, Dan Barrera, John Storey

Small Satellite Conference

The CesiumAstro Element One Satellite, designed for multi-band phased array communications in Low Earth Orbit, required a new approach to satellite flight software. The variety of new devices on the satellite bus, fast-paced development schedule, and combination of in-house and purchased subsystems required flight software to incorporate a mixture of programming languages, a mixture of open source and proprietary software, and a pairing of high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) frameworks with new, first-flight software. To achieve integration, assembly, and test on compressed schedule, the flight software paradigm focused on microservices-brokered access to hardware and a message-passing based coordination between software …

Mirzo Ulugbek 6u Cubesat: Modular Structural Design, Analysis, And Ait For Earth Observation Mission Deployment, Hery Steven Mindarno, Louis Alferd Gauvain Lefort, Khabibullokh Olimjon Ugli Azimjonov, Iwase Tomoya, Aashish Sarode, Chinathip Narongphun, Reynel Josue Galindo Rosales, Mehmet Esit, Hanadi Abdalla, Kaito Hamada, Victor Schulz, Jose Rodrigo Cordova Alarcon, Hirokazu Masui, Takashi Yamauchi, Necmi Cihan Orger, Kentaro Kitamura, Mengu Cho

Small Satellite Conference

The Mirzo Ulugbek satellite is a 6U CubeSat designed for Earth Observation (EO) and equipped with a high-resolution camera system. Developed in collaboration between the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) and the Uzbekistan Space Agency, Mirzo Ulugbek will be deployed directly from a launch vehicle into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) to enable continuous Earth observation. This paper presents the modular structural design, analysis, and Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) processes that ensure the satellite’s robustness during launch and reliable operation in orbit. The modular design allows efficient integration, disassembly, and reassembly of subsystems, enhancing flexibility during testing. This design approach …

Operating The Sparcs Space Telescope, Kaitlyn Ashcroft, Daniel Jacobs, Evgenya Shkolnik, Judd Bowman, Matthew Kolopanis, Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa, Joe Dubois, Titu Samson, Maria C. Ladwig, Joshua Sink, Ella Greetis, Paulo Gonzalez Soto, Ysabella Mcauliffe, Lilian Prigge, Aaron Boumias, Ishi Shah, Hetvi Patel, Joseph Dukowitz, David R. Ardila, April Jewell, Mark Swain, Shouleh Nikzad, Christophe Basset, Joe Llama, Paul Scowen, Sarah Peacock, Dawn Gregory, Nathaniel Streubel, Logan Jensen, Johnathan Gamaunt, Travis Barman, Victoria Meadows

Small Satellite Conference

Star-Planet Research CubeSat (SPARCS) is a 6U space telescope dedicated to monitoring flares from low-mass stars in the ultraviolet (UV). SPARCS observations of flares across 20 solar systems will be used to better understand the atmospheric evolution, chemistry, and potential habitability of the most common type of exoplanets. SPARCS’ camera uses delta-doped CCD detectors, which are several times more sensitive in the UV than previous detectors. This is technology necessary for future studies of habitable-worlds and star–planet interactions by future missions, such as NASA’s flagship mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory. SPARCS orbits in the “6am terminator” orbit, which provides a …

Multi-Modal Detection And Attribution Algorithm For Low Power Edge Compute Hardware, Margaret Michelsen, Jackson Gardner, Shawn Jones, Jackson Kulik, Mario Harper

Small Satellite Conference

We present a multi-modal detection and attribution algorithm for maritime domain awareness designed to execute on low-power FPGA-based edge compute hardware. Spaceborne hyperspectral sensors generate data volumes far exceeding practical downlink capacity, yet the onboard compute platforms available for real-time processing operate within strict power, memory, and radiation constraints. The proposed algorithm fuses RX anomaly scoring, ACE matched filtering, multi-spectral index evaluation, wake-aware spatial scoring, and spectral glint cancellation in a five-stage pipeline designed for hardware-efficient execution. Mixed-precision quantization assigns FP16 arithmetic to covariance-sensitive stages and INT8 to threshold-based spectral computations, achieving a 12.4× model size reduction and 6.1× compute …