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The Lifecycle Of The Educator: Bridging Fragmented Pathways Across Writing Center And Composition Pedagogy, Emma S. Weis

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Graduate students are frequently positioned as instructors of record in foundational writing courses, yet preparation for these roles is often distributed across institutional sites, including writing centers, pedagogy courses, and mentorship opportunities. This thesis examines educator development across successive institutional roles, tracing how instructional responsibility is encountered and negotiated within writing center and composition studies. Through autoethnographic tracing, this research considers how progression is experienced in practice, with attention to the influence of institutional design on the movement between stages.

Paired with this narrative approach, a rhetorical analysis of institutional artifacts draws upon experiences at Stetson University and the University …

Federated Learning In The Era Of Foundation Models, Guangyu Sun

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The emergence of large-scale foundation models has reshaped computer vision and multi-modal learning, but their substantial computational and communication demands pose significant challenges for deployment in federated learning (FL) systems. Federated learning enables collaborative model training across decentralized clients without sharing raw data, offering strong privacy guarantees. However, adapting foundation models in FL remains difficult due to communication bottlenecks, heterogeneous data distributions, limited device resources, and scarce labeled data. This dissertation presents a unified line of research that addresses these challenges through four complementary frameworks, progressively advancing the efficiency, personalization, and practicality of foundation model adaptation in federated settings.

First, …

Oblique Detonation Waves In Internal Axisymmetric Converging Flow, Zachary P. White

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Detonative combustion offers significant thermodynamic advantages for high‑speed propulsion, motivating the development of detonation‑based combustors for hypersonic flight. Among these, oblique detonation wave (ODW) engines require extremely high combustor velocities to achieve steady wave stabilization. While most prior experimental and numerical studies have focused on planar two‑dimensional geometries, axisymmetric combustors offer practical benefits for hypersonic vehicle integration and may influence achievable pressure gain. However, the effects of inward‑turning axisymmetric compression on ODW formation and performance remain largely unexplored. This work presents an experimentally stabilized ODW formed on an internal axisymmetric converging ramp. Experiments were conducted in a high‑enthalpy blowdown wind …

Dynamics Of Household Food Insecurity Vulnerability: Examining Health, Functional Limitations, And Income Stability, Renita Washburn

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Household food insecurity is a multidimensional issue affecting millions of households in the United States. While research has established that low income and poor health or functional limitations can increase the risk of food insecurity, current approaches do not fully capture these dynamic processes to identify long-term vulnerability. Specifically, income-based measures rely on static thresholds that miss instability, potentially underestimating risk. Gaps also remain in understanding persistent food insecurity, including how functional limitations (difficulties with activities like bathing, shopping, or managing finances) are associated with insecurity over time. These functional limitations can impact both economic factors (such as the ability …

Forest Island Reforestation In The Llanos De Moxos, Bolivia, Ethan Tam

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Within the Llanos de Moxos of Bolivia thousands of forest islands dot the landscape. These forest islands have been shown to have been integral aspects of the pre-Contact indigenous cultures which existed there for thousands of years. Based on 1967 CORONA imagery and statistical analysis, this work provides insight into how these forest islands are integrated as infrastructure features within their landscape and surrounding network of other archaeological features. This research is carried out through investigations into changes in the size of the forest islands across an interval of 57 years, statistical attempts to categorize the forest island into smaller …

Sonic Costumes For Immersive Theme Park Storytelling: Developing Interactive Wearables To Enhance Performer, Audience, And Environment Interaction, Rachel Yee

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Costumes enhance the themed experience through visual storytelling while also allowing performers to interact fluidly with a physical space. These garments are typically passive storytellers in theme parks, even if the performers interact directly with guests. Some garments coordinate with and react to elements of the themed environment, predominantly when worn by performers within live shows, parades, or streetmosphere settings. However, this interactivity is often available only at a distance from guests, causing a separation between audience and performer. For instance, lights on parade costumes, such as those throughout Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park, often synchronize only with parade floats and …

Perceptions Of High School Students’ Sports Participation And Potential Impact On Post-Secondary Involvement, Anthony J. Wishart

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examined the shifting culture of youth sports in the United States and its impact on academic motivation among adolescent student athletes. The study utilized Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a framework. Traditionally, youth sports have helped students with personal growth and academic success. However, the contemporary emphasis on early sport specialization and the decline of opportunities in nonrevenue male sports are part of broader cultural shifts and require deeper exploration.

This study investigated the relationship between sport specialization among high school male junior and senior student athletes and their levels of academic motivation, as well as the consequences of …

Building Eden Where We Can, Ireland Thomas

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Building Eden Where We Can is a nonfiction memoir told in vignettes that come together to build a wider story. Through these vignettes, we are shown a narrator who is simultaneously surviving an abusive family, navigating a rare diagnosis, and coming to terms with their queerness. By braiding narratives and maintaining these various threads, this collection examines the intersections of sickness and religion, tradition and freedom, as well as fear and love. The lattermost dichotomy is represented in the narrator’s ultimate choice to leave behind a life of fear in the mother figure’s safe cage. In exchange, they receive a …

The Effects Of Episodic Facilitation And Immersion On Memory Formation During Learning Of An Exterior Preflight Inspection Procedure, Nathan A. Sonnenfeld

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This research examined the use of episodic facilitation—instructional elements aligned with episodic memory (EM) processes—to affect learners’ memory of simulation training for an aviation procedure. Despite its assumed benefits in industry and theory, virtual reality (VR) has shown limited advantages over conventional media for training procedures, in part because prevailing frameworks emphasize semantic and procedural outcomes, leaving memory of training experiences as events underexamined. To address this gap, this work advances human factors research by examining EM as a design consideration, an outcome, and an explanatory mechanism for how simulation training experiences are remembered. Grounded in theories of EM and …

Photothermal Excitation And Optical Interferometric Readout Of Mos2 Nanomechanical Resonators, Sadia Afrin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as promising candidates for nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) due to their exceptional mechanical, optical, and electrical properties. Among these materials, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has attracted considerable interest for nanomechanical resonator applications because of its low mass density, high mechanical strength, and semiconducting nature. This thesis presents the fabrication, theoretical modeling, and experimental characterization of suspended MoS2 drumhead resonators. The devices were fabricated by mechanically exfoliating MoS2 flakes from bulk MoS2 crystals and transferring selected flakes onto pre-patterned substrates using a dry-transfer process. Mechanical resonance was excited through photothermal actuation using a modulated blue laser, while device …

Voltage Stability Enhancement Of Large Load Interconnections Using Syncronous Condensers, Muhammad Ibrahim Abbas

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The rapid integration of hyperscale data centers as large, concentrated loads presents a growing voltage stability challenge in grids weakened by synchronous generator retirement and increasing inverter-based resource penetration. This work proposes a Jacobian-based sensitivity framework for systematically identifying voltage-critical buses and optimally siting synchronous condensers as voltage support resources. A voltage-weighted sensitivity index, extracted from the full Jacobian inverse, is introduced to combine network-wide reactive coupling strength with observed voltage drops into a single deployable placement criterion. Validation on IEEE 14-bus and 30-bus test systems under multiple loading scenarios demonstrates that the proposed criterion consistently identifies the correct placement …

Ecological And Evolutionary Responses To Environmental Change In Two Large North American Mammals, George Zaragoza

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Climate change and urbanization are resulting in rapid shifts in ecosystems. The effects of these changes are complex, and understanding how species respond is critical for predicting their impacts on genetic diversity and evolution, as well as changes in habitat suitability. Species can respond to these changes in two major ways: through behavioral or genetic adaptation, or by moving to more suitable habitat as conditions change. Adaptive genetic change, in particular, can support behavioral and physiological responses that enable species to persist in novel or changing environments, and understanding these changes can help predict how species will respond to anthropogenic …

From Motherhood To Sisterhood: Women Strike For Peace And The Transmission Of Feminist Consciousness, Olivia R. Aldrich

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Women Strike for Peace (WSP) has traditionally been understood as a maternalist peace movement that emerged in response to atmospheric nuclear testing during the early Cold War era. This thesis argues that WSP’s history reveals a more nuanced relationship between motherhood, feminism, and political activism than existing scholarship has suggested. Rather than operating in distinct stages, maternalism and feminism operated simultaneously, working alongside one another throughout the organization’s history. Furthermore, this thesis builds upon Ednie Kaeh Garrison’s concept of feminist “radio waves,” arguing that WSP functioned as a transmitter of feminist consciousness, where ideas, organizational practices, and different political identities …

Bowtie Antenna-Coupled Bi₂Te₃–Sb₂Te₃ Thermoelectric Detector For Millimeter-Wave Radiation, Rumana Zahir

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

We explore the development of antenna-coupled thermoelectric detectors for long-wavelength radiation using sputtered bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) and antimony telluride (Sb₂Te₃) thin films. Detection in the infrared, millimeter-wave, and terahertz regimes is critical for sensing, imaging, and energy applications; however, many existing detectors rely on cryogenic operation, exhibit narrow spectral response, or require complex material systems. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of reliable, room-temperature long-wavelength detection using microfabricated thermoelectric thin films integrated with antenna structures. A systematic full-factorial experimental approach was employed to determine how sputtering parameters and post-deposition annealing influence …

Pseudo-Boiling Of Supercritical Co2 In A Parallel-Flow Microchannel And A Micro-Jets Impingement Device And Single-Phase And Two-Phase Heat Transfer Of Subcritical Co2 Jets, Pranzal Ahmed

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is gaining attention as a low-toxicity, zero-ozone-depletion refrigerant with a global warming potential of 1, making it an attractive alternative to synthetic HFCs/HFOs. Near its critical point, CO2's thermophysical properties change sharply with small shifts in temperature and pressure — a behavior that can be exploited to enhance heat transfer in trans-critical power cycles and electronics cooling. This dissertation experimentally investigates heat transfer during the pseudo-boiling of supercritical CO2 in a parallel-flow microchannel and a micro-jet impingement device, alongside CO2 flow boiling and single-phase water heat transfer in micro-jet impingement. Using microfluidic devices instrumented with embedded resistance …

Site Use And Demographic Changes In A Northwest Atlantic Sea Turtle Foraging Ground, Ryan C. Welsh

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

and site fidelity, making mortality difficult to distinguish from redistribution. We developed a behaviorally explicit framework to separate true mortality from changes in availability caused by movement and redistribution. We evaluated this problem for juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) captured at the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant intake canal on Florida’s Atlantic coast using a multi-decade capture–mark–recapture record spanning 1977 - 2023. Hidden Markov Models classified individuals into latent habitat-use strategies (Nomadic, Resident, and Transient) based on capture timing and body size. Across both species, these strategies captured consistent differences in site fidelity and recapture …

Invisible Stress, Visible Patterns: How The Superwoman Schema Shapes Diet And Feeding Practices In Black Mothers And Their Youth During The Summer Versus School Months, Jillian Weathington

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Background: Black mothers are frequently socialized into the Superwoman Schema (SWS), a coping pattern characterized by self-sacrifice and suppression of personal needs. Alongside significant caregiving demands, SWS may limit healthy eating opportunities, yet its relationship with diet quality (DQ) remains understudied. SWS may also intensify during unstructured summer periods. This study examined associations between SWS, perceived stress, and DQ among Black mothers and their youth during summer (T1) and school months (T2).

Methods: This observational within-subjects study included Black mothers (T1: n=51; T2: n=32; mean age 39.6±6.1) and their youth (mean age 10.6±0.3). Assessments occurred at two timepoints six weeks …

Robust Deep Learning One-Class Classification, Shahd Alnofaie

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

One-Class Classification (OCC) focuses on learning the characteristics of normal data and identifying observations that deviate from this learned pattern as anomalies. It is commonly used in applications such as medical diagnosis, cybersecurity, industrial monitoring, and fraud detection, where abnormal examples are often rare or unavailable during training. Classical approaches such as SVDD and LS-SVDD describe normal data using a hypersphere. While effective in some settings, these methods rely on shallow representations and can be sensitive to noise and contaminated observations. To address these limitations, this dissertation introduces a Deep LS-SVDD framework that combines hypersphere-based data description with deep neural …

Soil Texture And Organic Matter Influence Hydraulic Performance Of Stormwater Infiltration Systems Across Antecedent Moisture Conditions, Laura E. Andrade Barron

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Stormwater infiltration systems are widely used to improve urban stormwater management by promoting drainage and groundwater recharge while treating nonpoint source pollution such as nutrients in surface runoff. Nutrient removal and hydrologic performance of these systems are closely coupled and both are dependent on characteristics of underlying soils. In this study, laboratory flow-through experiments were conducted using 30 intact cores taken from six soil types with different textures (0.99-16.63% clay content) and organic matter contents (OMC 0.44-93.3%). Measured cumulative fluxes from laboratory experiments were used to calibrate numerical models simulating flow through porous media (HYDRUS-1D). Calibrated models were used to …

Watch Your Step, Mind The Crowd: Socially Compliant Navigation In Unstructured Environments, Jack Vice

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Autonomous mobile robots increasingly operate in complex real-world environments characterized by uneven terrain, dynamic obstacles, and human presence. This dissertation addresses the fundamental challenge of developing adaptive navigation strategies that enable robots to safely and effectively traverse unstructured outdoor environments including construction sites, agricultural fields, and disaster areas while maintaining social compliance around people. We advance this capability through five complementary contributions that collectively target dynamic, unstructured, human-occupied environments. First, we demonstrate evolutionary optimization of legged mobility for uneven terrain. Second, we propose using a spatiotemporal autoencoder to learn the temporal dynamics of moving people and objects. Third, we introduce …

Interactions Of Complement With Paramyxovirus Persistently Infected Cells, Nasser N. Yousef

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Persistent RNA virus infections (PI) are often characterized by extended viral shedding and maintained cycles of inflammation. We have an incomplete understanding of interactions between exogenous and cell intrinsic Complement (C') factors and paramyxovirus PI cells. Parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) acute infected (AI) cells can be recognized and lysed by exogenous C’ factors, but PI cells become resistant to C’-mediated lysis. We hypothesized that the relative sensitivity of AI and PI cells to C’ lysis is correlated with viral glycoprotein expression on the surface of cells. PI cells display lower levels of viral glycoprotein expression compared to AI cells. Pharmacological …

Unmasking Pentastomes: Generating Genomic Resources For Enigmatic Parasites, Stephanie Lyn Villella

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The introduction of invasive species can disrupt ecosystems not only through competition and predation but also by introducing novel pathogens to naïve host populations. In the southeastern United States, the invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) has been implicated in the introduction of the pentastome parasite Raillietiella orientalis, which has been associated with increased parasite burdens and mortality in native snakes. Despite their ecological significance and ancient evolutionary history, pentastomes remain poorly represented in genomic databases, limiting efforts to understand their evolutionary origins, host–parasite interactions, and mechanisms underlying parasite emergence. This study addresses these gaps by generating the …

Resources And Coping Strategies In Adverse Work Situations: A Person-Centered Approach, Chad Yagey

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The resilience process model highlights an approach to how people mobilize their resources to cope and positively adapt in the face of adversity. Leveraging Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Work Home Resources Model (WHRM), I aim to uncover the extent to which resilience capacity (resources) and resilience enactment (coping) influence outcomes of resilience, offering one of the first empirical tests of the resilience process model. Specifically, COR theory posits that the more psychological resources someone has, the more successful they are in coping. I challenge this notion by examining whether specific profiles of the combination of resources available …

Effects Of Back-Pressure On Pseudo-Shock Systems, Emil C. Alunno

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The isolator of a scramjet engine houses a pseudo-shock, a compressive flow structure that raises the static pressure and decelerates the incoming supersonic flow for efficient combustion while shielding the inlet from the elevated pressure downstream. Under sufficient back pressure the leading shock bifurcates and forms a shock train followed by a shockless mixing region, and the resulting system oscillates even under nominally steady conditions; this unsteadiness distorts the flow, can drive the pseudo-shock out of the isolator and unstart the inlet. This thesis experimentally examines how a pseudo-shock in a constant-area isolator at a measured entrance Mach number of …

Numerical Investigation Of Reacting Flow In Pmma-Fueled Solid Fuel Scramjet Combustors Under Experimental Test Conditions, Hunter Bassett

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

A simplified steady RANS-based numerical study of reacting flow in solid-fuel scramjet combustors is presented to evaluate the ability of commercial CFD frameworks to reproduce key features observed in experimental test sections. The work focuses on solid PMMA fuel in two supersonic combustor configurations: a cavity-assisted flameholding combustor and a variable-angle diverging combustor. The cavity combustor is analyzed as a baseline case and results are compared directly with experimental data. Three combustor geometry states corresponding to ignition, early-burning, and steady-burning conditions are investigated. Meshes are assessed through a systematic grid refinement method to establish grid independence. A novel variable-angle diverging …

Learning Weibull Loss Severity Models From Truncated And Censored Data, Majed Alkhasha

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In modern actuarial science and risk management, due to various loss control mechanisms, observed severity losses are typically left-truncated at the deductible, right-censored at the policy limit, and scaled by a pre-specified co-insurance factor. This results in two types of actuarial payment random variables: payment-per-payment (PPP) and payment-per-loss (PPL). To learn ground-up Weibull loss severity models from PPP and PPL sample data, we implement two estimation techniques: Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) and the dynamic Method of Trimmed Moments (MTM). MLE is employed to obtain efficient estimates of the Weibull shape and scale parameters. However, MLE may assign unnecessarily large point …

Fgf19 As A Colorectal Cancer Serum Biomarker And Fgfr4 As A Mediator Of Anti-Her2 Resistance In Breast Cancer, Jordan Beardsley

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19)-fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) signaling pathway regulates hepatic metabolism, bile acid (BA) synthesis, and hepatocyte proliferation. This signaling axis also is implicated in promoting tumor progression, therapeutic resistance, and metastasis in certain cancers.

In colorectal cancer (CRC) there is a critical need for non-invasive biomarkers for disease detection and monitoring. We identified FGF19 as a candidate CRC serum marker through meta-transcriptomics and found FGF19 to be expressed and secreted by CRC cell lines. Tumor-derived FGF19 was detectable in mouse serum at levels correlating with tumor volume in a subcutaneous xenograft model. RNA sequencing …

Non-Destructive Hhxrf Archaeometry For Grouping Individuals Via Trace Element Analysis Of Dental Remains, Griffon G. Binkowski

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Handheld X-ray fluorescence (HHXRF) spectrometry has been validated as an accurate, non-destructive method for analyzing archaeological osseous materials. This study utilizes HHXRF to address key bioarchaeological questions, including population differentiation, individuation, and the interpretation of bioaccumulated trace elements versus diagenetic impacts. Using dental enamel from the Maya site of Altun Ha, Belize (n=20) and several Roman-Christian sites in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt (n=6), the occlusal surface of molar crowns was assayed in air using a Bruker Tracer III- equipped with a 12 mil Al, 1 mil Ti, 6 mil Cu filter. Semi-quantitative trace element ratios (Sr/Ca, Fe/Ca, and Zn/Ca) …

Cfd Analysis Of A Full Heat Exchanger Between Ammonia And Supercritical Co2 In Aviation Application, Mairah Ahmed

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The aviation industry’s transition toward lower-carbon propulsion systems has accelerated interest in alternative fuels, including ammonia–hydrogen fuel blends. In this work, a supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle is integrated with the exhaust stream of a turbofan engine to recover waste heat and utilize it for ammonia preheating and cracking. The recovered thermal energy raises the ammonia temperature to the level required for catalytic decomposition, enabling onboard hydrogen production. The proposed architecture combines ammonia cracking with a high-bypass, two-shaft turbofan engine representative of the propulsion system employed on the Boeing 737 MAX 8. This approach addresses the challenges associated with onboard hydrogen …

Infrared Systems And Their Application On Target Detection And Geolocation, Li Zhang

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The infrared spectrum contains various sub-bands (from near infrared (NIR) to long-wave infrared (LWIR), which are specialized at different detection tasks. Objects that are well camouflaged to human vision can be highly noticeable in NIR imagery. For vision navigation, the varying illumination condition and the cluttered urban background poses challenges in the visible band but can easily be resolved by using a thermal imager operating in LWIR. Despite this potential, practical deployment remains limited by the lack of suitable platforms, task-specific datasets, and long-duration field validation. This dissertation addresses these gaps through the design and evaluation of two infrared sensing …