Digital Commons Network^™

Wooster Magazine: Summer 2026, Caitlin Paynich Stanowick, The College Of Wooster

Wooster Magazine: 2021-2030

 The summer 2026 issue of Wooster magazine explores the role of mentorship in shaping inquiry, confidence, and lifelong learning at The College of Wooster. Features examine how personalized guidance supports student research through Independent Study, including projects by psychology and music, classical studies, physics, and computer science and neuroscience students that explored music cognition, ancient texts, consciousness, and distant galaxies. Additional featured stories highlight a faculty professional learning community focused on strengthening mentoring practices across campus and alumni Amber Rice ’01, Austin Russell ’19, Marcel El Kouri ’21, and Emily Beuter ’20, who carry forward the lessons and values of …

Llu Dentistry 2026 Summer Edition, Loma Linda University School Of Dentistry

Articulator (Dentistry)

In this issue:

4 | Dean's Message
9 | LLUSD Homecoming 2026: A Celebration of Legacy & Future Growth
19 | Celebrating 48 Years A Tribute to Kathleen Moore Rychman
21 | A Natural Calling: Dr. Yawen Peng, Program Director
22 | A Legacy of Excellence R. David Rynearson, DDS'71, MS'87 honored with the O.B. Vaughan Special Recognition Award
25 | CDA Presents Anaheim
32 | Dental Hygiene Pinning Ceremony
36 | Called to Serve Baccalaureate and the Class of 2026
40 | Commencement
45 | President's Award
46 | Prince Award
54 | Dental Hygiene Student Awards
56 | …

Doctor Decision Making And Patient Outcomes, Janet Currie, W. Bentley Macleod, Kate Musen

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Doctors often treat similar patients differently, which affects health outcomes and medical spending. We assess the recent literature on doctor decision making through the lens of a model that incorporates diagnostic and procedural skills, beliefs, incentives, and differences in patient pools. Decision making is affected by beliefs, training, experience, peer effects, financial incentives, and time constraints. Interventions to improve decision making include providing information, guidelines, and technologies like electronic medical records and algorithmic decision tools. Economists have made progress in understanding doctor decision making, but applications of that knowledge to improving health care are still limited.

Antibody-Oligonucleotide Conjugates: An Emerging Modality For Precision Rna Therapeutics, Chen-Hsu Yu, Summer Y Y Ha, Zhiqiang An, Kyoji Tsuchikama, Wenbo Li

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

RNA-targeting therapeutics have enormous potential to precisely target disease-causing RNAs, extending beyond the traditional limits of "druggability" for small molecules, antibodies, and protein-targeting cell therapies. However, one crucial limitation is that RNA-targeting drug modalities (such as oligonucleotides) cannot effectively reach diseased tissue or cell types. Antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs) emerge as a promising frontier in aiding RNA therapeutics by harnessing antibodies to deliver drug modalities to target specific RNAs in desired tissues or cells. In this Review, we summarize the critical components of AOCs, key considerations for their design and manufacturing, ongoing AOCs in preclinical/clinical development, and disease indications. We discuss …

Assessing Vertebrate Biodiversity In An Agricultural And Urban Impacted River Using Environmental Dna Metabarcoding, Surabhi Nair

AES Theses

Rivers are dynamic freshwater systems that can experience shifts in flood regime that are driven by anthropogenic activity and climate change. These changes may no longer support the native species in the ecosystem and can favor invasive generalist species. The Pajaro River supports a range of urban, agricultural, and natural habitats and is prone to seasonal flooding that can affect habitat conditions and biodiversity. Current vertebrate diversity in the Pajaro River is not well understood, although traditional surveys have documented both rare and invasive species. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, can help address gaps in traditional monitoring by detecting elusive or …

Taking The Thumb Off The Scale: Rebalancing Parental And Children’S Rights To Empower Child Protective Services, Sebastian Wagner

Utah Law Review

This Note provides background on the current legal framework of state prevention of child maltreatment in the United States. It discusses parental rights and the Parental Rights Doctrine, child rights in the United States, and how states prevent child maltreatment through child protective service agencies.

This Note also explores the legal landscape surrounding the balance of parental rights and children’s rights in child welfare cases. One of the central issues in the current framework is how the Parental Rights Doctrine can significantly limit the state’s ability to intervene in cases where children are at risk. State intervention, governed by vague …

Pathologic Misclassification Of Renal Cell Carcinoma In Adolescents And Young Adults, Megan Stout, Derek B. Allison, Leslie Peard, Will Cranford, Yana B. Feygin, Kara Mcabee, Christopher J. Mclouth, Patrick J. Hensley, Jason R. Bylund, Amanda F. Buchanan

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Background and Objective: Diagnosis of TFE3-rearranged RCC (tRCC) requires a pathologist’s expertise and a high index of suspicion. The objectives of this study were to determine the rate of misclassification of RCC in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) patient population, identify any clinically significant impact associated with misclassification, and compare oncologic outcomes between patients with tRCC vs. other RCC subtypes. Methods: All patients < 50 years who underwent renal surgery and were diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma at a single institution from 2004 to 2019 were identified retrospectively. Pathology specimens were reviewed by a genitourinary pathologist. Changes in a pathologic diagnosis were denoted as “misclassified.” Clinical and oncologic data were analyzed comparing misclassified and non-misclassified groups as well as tRCC and other RCC diagnoses. A survival analysis was used to compare oncologic outcomes. Results: In total, 169 patients were identified, and 20/169 (11.8%) patients were misclassified after pathologic review, with 50% (n = 84) of this cohort < 40 years of age at diagnosis. There were significant differences between misclassified and non-misclassified groups with respect to race (p = 0.002), Appalachian county status (p = 0.035), and initial RCC subtype (p = 0.004). There were no significant differences in clinical or oncologic outcomes between tRCC and other RCC groups. There were no significant differences in time to death or recurrence in misclassified vs. non-misclassified patients (p = 0.83 and 0.68, respectively) or between patients with tRCC and other RCC subtypes (p = 0.45 and 0.062, respectively). Conclusions: >10% of patients with RCC were misclassified on the original pathologic diagnosis; however, there was no significant impact on oncologic outcomes. This identifies diagnostic blind spots for tRCC diagnosis in a young cohort. Perhaps reflex IHC …

Animal Science Research And Extension Report 2026 (Complete Report), Department Of Animal Science

Animal Science Research Report 2026

This is the 2026 Animal Science and Extension Report. This highlights the research being generated within the department over the previous year.

Fractured Focus: Understanding Stress In Second-Year Radiologic Science Students Across Alabama, Kelsi Clotfelter

Honors Theses

Higher education is a period of rapid transition and growing responsibility, where stress often becomes a routine part of students’ lives. In health professional programs, the combined demands of intensive coursework and clinical training can intensify emotional strain and negatively affect overall well-being. Radiography students experience uniquely high levels of academic, clinical, and emotional stress due to the simultaneous demands of didactic coursework, competency-based clinical training, and high-stakes professional expectations. A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was employed to evaluate the prevalence, sources, and perceived impact of stress among second-year radiography students across multiple Alabama institutions with the goal of identifying strategies …

Evaluating Fungicide Programs For Grapevine Disease Management And Fungicide Sensitivity Monitoring, Abraham Ahumada

Master's Theses

Grapevine diseases, such as powdery mildew and Botrytis bunch rot, require repeated fungicide applications to maintain fruit quality and reduce yield losses. However, fungicide performance can vary among products, application programs, disease pressure, and pathogen sensitivity. This thesis evaluated fungicide programs for control of powdery mildew in ‘Chardonnay’ grapes and assessed fungicide sensitivity of Botrytis cinerea isolates collected from California vineyards.

Powdery mildew, caused by the fungal pathogen Erysiphe necator, is a major threat to the production of Vitis vinifera grapes worldwide. Because powdery mildew management relies heavily on fungicide applications, field evaluations are needed to compare the efficacy …

How Does High-Oil Sorghum Change Potential Extracellular Enzyme Activity Across Soil Depth Profiles Under Drought Conditions?, Krystal Monique Role, Rounak Patra, Wendy Yang

MICRO-CCS student projects

Transgenic oil sorghum reallocates photosynthate-carbon (C) into vegetative lipids, accumulating nonstructural lipids in both shoot and root tissues. Altered plant C allocation and root lipid accumulation may shift root exudate chemistry, belowground C inputs, and microbial nutrient demand throughout the soil profile. While aboveground productivity in high-oil sorghum is well-characterized, its belowground impacts on soil microbial enzyme activity and exchangeable cation dynamics, especially across soil horizons under drought stress remain unknown.

Project objective was to find out how transgenic high oil sorghum (Tx-HO1) influences CNP acquiring extracellular enzyme activities and soil exchangeable cation dynamics across soil horizons under drought and …

Investigation Of Biological Denitrification Inhibition By Specific Anthocyanins, Kristin Palazzo, Holly Anderson, Aislinn Geedey, Angela Kent

MICRO-CCS student projects

Nitrogen fertilizers are applied to corn fields to support high crop yields, but some nitrogen is lost through microbial denitrification, producing nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. Some plants produce certain flavonoids that can suppress microbial denitrification, a trait known as biological denitrification inhibition (BDI). Maize produces flavonoids in the form of anthocyanins, including cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), the major anthocyanin produced by maize.

The goals of this project were to determine whether C3G:

is produced in maize roots

inhibits microbial denitrification

Recovering Plasmid-Id Barcoded Strains Of Sinorhizobium Meliloti From A Native Soil Microbiome, Kenny Sacks, Hannah Murray, Katy Heath

MICRO-CCS student projects

Introduction

Legume-Rhizobia Mutualism: Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Plants can’t produce nitrogenous compounds. Rhizobia fix atmospheric nitrogen gas into bioavailable forms. Rhizobia form a nutrient exchange mutualism with leguminous plants.

Project description

Can our bacteria persist within the rhizosphere and into the nodule when faced with native microbial competitors? The Medicago-Sinorhizobium mutualism is used as a model system. Survival of strains post competition is difficult to measure due to identical 16S rRNA sequences and similar marker genes. Plasmid-ID barcoding sequences may provide a way of testing strains against a community.

Effects Of Varying Ph Levels On Prophenoloxidase Activity And Hemocyte Recruitment In Daphnia Dentifera, Yusra Siddiqi, Carla Caceres

MICRO-CCS student projects

Anthropogenic activities and natural processes are responsible for changing the pH of freshwaters which can impact aquatic life. D. dentifera is a keystone species found in midwestern lakes that is susceptible to a parasitic yeast called Australozyma monospora. A. monospora spores puncture the Daphnia gut into the hemolymph and begin using the host’s resources. Invertebrate immunity is under researched.

Research objective: How will different pH impact prophenoloxidase (proPO) activity and hemocyte recruitment in Daphnia dentifera?

Fungal Diversity In Lespedeza Cuneata Roots, Gwendolyn Happ, Sophia Mcdade, Anthony Yannarell

MICRO-CCS student projects

Background

• Plants form a relationship with fungi that can be beneficial or harmful
• Fungi may grow on the plant surface, within plant tissues, or around roots
• Plants release compounds that invite fungi to their roots and chemicals  that can diminish unwanted fungi

Why Lespedeza cuneata? 

• Invasive that competes with native plants and damages biodiversity within plant and animal communities
• Alters soil microbiome
• Expansive seed bank and deep root system
• Understanding its microbiome can help in understanding invasive species success and ecology

Efficacy And Evolutionary Dynamics Of 222 Nm Far-Uvc Against Vibrio Cholerae, Kadicha Madakimova, Angus Wu, Nkrumah Grant

MICRO-CCS student projects

The Far-UVC light at 222 nm wavelength (UV222) is one of the emerging methods of disinfection of bacteria in public spaces such as hospitals and labs.

• Does not penetrate human skin and does not cause harm to eyes making it a safer alternative to conventional UV systems.

• Primarily targets proteins preventing regrowth and repair pathways.

However, the potential for bacterial adaptation following sublethal UV222 exposure remains largely unknown.

Central question: How does QS transcriptional state influence the efficacy and resistance profile of V. cholerae to UV222 nm irradiation?

Hypothesis: Qurom-sensing transcriptional state determines V. cholerae susceptibility to UV222 nm UV …

A Tale Of Two Symbionts: Comparative Cellular Localization Of Two Manipulative Rickettsiella Strains In A Spider, Kaitlyn Costanza, Thea Bliss, Matthew Doremus

MICRO-CCS student projects

Many arthropods harbor maternally transmitted endosymbionts that manipulate host reproduction to increase their transmission. One such manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), in which embryos produced by infected males and uninfected females fail to develop.

Rickettsiella has recently been discovered to cause CI in Mermessus fradeorum. Two geographically distinct Rickettsiella strains infect this spider: R1 causes strong CI, whereas R2 causes weaker CI.

Hypothesis: H1: Both Rickettsiella strains will localize within or near developing sperm cells in the testes. H2: The stronger R1 strain will exhibit more consistent localization within infected adult reproductive tissues than the weaker R2 strain.

Reducing Asthma-Associated Absenteeism At A School-Based Health Center Using Asthma Control Test (Act) Scoring, Concetta Terry

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Asthma is a common chronic condition that can lead to increased school absences and lower academic performance. A needs assessment at a rural school-based health clinic identified gaps in care for students with asthma and high absenteeism rates.

Purpose: This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project aimed to reduce asthma-related absences by personalizing care using Asthma Control Test (ACT) scoring.

Project Design: Using a pre- and post-intervention design, this DNP quality improvement project followed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework to evaluate the impact of implementing the ACT on asthma-related absenteeism in a rural school-based health center. The project …

Evaluating The Accuracy Of Face2gene Phenotyping Tools In South African Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Hendrike Mcdonald, Zandrè Bruwer, Michal Zieff, Emma Eastman, Brigitte Melly, Rizqa Sulaiman-Bardien, Karen Fieggen, Shahida Moosa, Charles Newton, Amina Abubakar

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Objectives Computational phenotyping tools, like Face2Gene, are increasingly used to support genetic diagnosis by analysing facial features. These tools perform well in Global North populations but are less accurate in other groups. This study aimed to assess the performance of Face2Gene’s DeepGestalt, FeatureMatcher, and D-Score in South African children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and unaffected controls.

Methods Facial photographs of 301 children from the NeuroDev South Africa study were analysed including 36 children with NDDs with a confirmed molecular diagnosis, 176 with NDDs without a confirmed molecular diagnosis, and 89 controls. Diagnostic accuracy of DeepGestalt and FeatureMatcher was assessed by …

Association Of Ultra-Processed Food Intake With Insulin Secretion And Sensitivity In Mexican American Children: Results From The Safari Study, Hemant Kulkarni, Rector Arya, Srinivas Mummidi, Sharon P. Fowler, Roy G. Resendez, Juan C. Lopez-Alvarenga, Vidya Farook, John Blangero

Human Genetics Publications

Background/Objectives: There is increasing interest in and evidence for the role of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in cardiometabolic risk. We tested the hypothesis that UPF intake score derived from dietary history is associated with measures of insulin secretion and sensitivity in a family setting even when the process of type 2 diabetes is still to ensue. Methods: We used data from our well-characterized San Antonio Family Assessment of Metabolic Risk Indicators in Youth (SAFARI) study cohort of nondiabetic children (aged 6–17 years). Dietary history was assessed using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire. Outcomes of interest were 19 clinically useful indexes of …

Mosaic Loss Of Y Chromosome Associates With Lung Function, Emphysema, And Epigenetic Aging, Woei Yuh Saw, Kangjin Kim, Yichen Huang, Jeong H. Yun, Xiaolong Ma, Jason Bacon, Yash Pershad, Daniel Levy, George T. O’Connor, John Blangero

Human Genetics Publications

Rationale: As the global population ages, identifying risk factors for age-related diseases, such as COPD, is crucial for public health. Mosaic loss of Y chromosome (mLOY) in blood cells is an age-related somatic mosaicism event, but its relationship with pulmonary health remains undercharacterized. Objectives: To examine the association between mLOY and pulmonary outcomes in men. Methods: Leveraging mLOY assessment (cell fraction ≥ 5%) in over 12 000 men, including 5097 from the COPDGene Study and 7235 from six additional cohorts in the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine program, we investigated mLOY associations with respiratory outcomes and epigenetic aging using multivariable cross-sectional, …

Purpose In Practice: A Master Of Social Work Professional Portfolio, Lexi M. Laird

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences In The Prevalence Of Anxiety And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Associated Factors Among Adults In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Basil Masinza, Amina Abubakar, Joy Mukubuyi, Patrick Mwangala

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background: Sex and gender equity in research has a growing focus, but there are gaps in fully integrating it in mental health research, limiting adoption of sex and gender-sensitive interventions. This review adopted a gendered perspective to synthesize prevalence and associated factors contributing to differences in anxiety and PTSD in SSA.

Methodology: Electronic search was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science databases. Empirical studies conducted in SSA, targeting adults >18 years and having gender-disaggregated anxiety and PTSD prevalence and factors were included. Meta-analysis of proportions stratified by sex was done, and narrative synthesis of the …

Cross-Ancestry Polygenic Risk Scores Enhance Alzheimer's Disease Risk Prediction In Multiethnic Cohorts, Meri Okorie, Caroline Jonson, Alexis Oddi, Patricia Castruita, Brian Fulton-Howard, Kristine Yaffe, Jennifer Yokoyama, Chinedu Momoh, Shea Andrews

Brain and Mind Institute

INTRODUCTION Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 80+ genetic loci associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), enabling the development of polygenic risk scores (PRS). However, the predictive accuracy of PRS in diverse populations remains low. Here, we evaluated the predictive accuracy of single-, multi-, and cross-ancestry AD-PRS models across multi-ancestral populations.

METHODS We used AD GWAS summary statistics from European, African, Admixed American, and East Asian populations to construct AD-PRS for each target population. Model performance was assessed by estimating odds ratios, R2, and area under the curve.

RESULTS The cross-ancestry Bayesian PRS model demonstrated the highest predictive performance in non-European …

Sachi Prasad Ray-Chaudhuri: Drosophila Genetics And Mutagenesis In Indian Science, Rajiva Raman, Awadhesh Jha

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

This article summarizes the scientific contributions of Professor Sachi Prasad Ray-Chaudhuri and his unwavering commitment to advancing research and teaching in mutagenesis and genetics in post-independence India, following his postgraduate training in the United Kingdom under the mentorship of Professor H. J. Muller. His contributions in basic mutagenesis, radiation protection, animal cytogenetics, and population genetics using a range of model and native species laid the foundation of scientific research in India in these contemporary fields. This played a pivotal role in advancing genetics and biological sciences in India at a time when scientific infrastructure and resources were limited. He also …

Understanding The Experiences Of Faculty Members Who Teach Case Conceptualization, Asianna Harris

Dissertations (1934 -)

Competence in case conceptualization (CC) is a core skill in clinical training. However, many graduate programs lack a structured process for teaching this complex and dynamic clinical skill. While most research focuses on students’ perspectives on learning CC, there is a distinct gap in research on faculty experiences, successful teaching methods, and the assessment of teaching practices. Therefore, this study addressed the gap in extant literature by exploring how doctoral programs’ faculty taught transtheoretical CC and how they evaluated the effectiveness of their instruction. A Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) design was employed to deeply examine the experiences of 13 faculty …

Latina Representation In Children’S Literature: A Content Analysis Approach., Vanessa Varela

Dissertations (1934 -)

This quantitative content analysis investigates the representation of Latina girls and women in children’s books across two distinct publishing periods. Drawing on foundational scholarship in gender and racial representation in children’s literature (Casey, 2021; Hamilton et al., 2006; Leslie, 2021; Pérez Huber, 2018; Paynter, 2011; Weitzman et al., 1972), and informed by the emergence of multiracial feminism in the 1990s, the study examines a total of forty books, using the book as the unit of analysis (20 published in 1995 and 20 in 2025). A comprehensive 60-item coding instrument was used to generate descriptive statistics, conduct inferential testing, and support …

Coping With Uncertainty In Everyday Situations (Cues©): The U.S. Pilot Study, Sarah Lehman

Dissertations (1934 -)

Autistic youth experience anxiety at an increased rate compared to their neurotypical counterparts. The presence of anxiety often amplifies the social and functional difficulties faced by autistic youth, which can exacerbate poor outcomes. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), defined as negative beliefs and reactions to unpredictable or ambiguous situations, has been identified as a key factor to the manifestation of anxiety in autistic populations. The current study aimed to replicate the protocol and results from Rodgers et al. (2023) by conducting the first U.S. pilot study examining the feasibility and efficacy of Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations (CUES©); an 8-week …

Enhancing Deep Learning Image Reconstruction In Breast Ct With Task-Driven Training And Physics-Informed Models, Megan Ariel Murphy

Dissertations (1934 -)

Dedicated breast X-ray computed tomography (breast CT) is a developing imaging modality that has potential as an alternative to mammography. Unlike traditional mammography, breast CT offers high-resolution, fully 3D anatomical detail, which aids in the detection of microcalfications and subtle lesions that are potential indicators of cancer. To be effective for screening, breast CT must limit radiation exposure by reducing CT view angles. However, traditional image reconstruction methods yield noisy, artifacted images in this sparse-view CT setting. This dissertation develops image restoration and reconstruction methods that address these limitations by integrating physics-informed iterative methods with machine learning tools, and a …

Evaluation Of A High Protein Low Oligosaccharide Soybean Meal In Poultry Production, Kasey Matusik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal to optimize poultry nutrition by the effects of feeding the soybean meal to roosters, broiler chickens, and turkeys. Two research objectives were evaluated to determine whether high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal would have increased nutritional value. The first objective assessed the metabolizable energy (ME) content of a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal compared to a conventional soybean meal. Using roosters, broiler chickens, and turkey poults, three bioassays were conducted to evaluate the ME of the soybean meal. Results demonstrated …