Digital Commons Network^™

Philip Petrov, Philip Petrov

Faculty CVs

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Journal Of Youth Development

Journal of Youth Development

No abstract provided.

Reframing Library Instruction Towards Belonging, Vanessa Arce

Publications and Research

A reflection piece about a small, spontaneous adjustment I made to an introductory library session for first year students. In the essay, I reflect on the potential impact of this relatively minor change in the context of the student population at our college.

Line Warming: Improperly Influencing Voters Or Mitigating The Effects Of Voter Suppression?, Elizabeth Ellen Gordon

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sex On Trial, Nathalie Greenfield, Sandra L. Babcock

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

On January 21, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Andrew v. White that the State’s introduction of sexualizing evidence in a woman’s capital trial may violate due process. In Brenda Andrew’s case, prosecutors presented evidence about her sexual relationships, clothing, and style of underwear as proof that she was guilty of capital murder. Our research, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, reveals for the first time that the prosecution’s tactics in Brenda Andrew’s case were far from unique. Based on a systematic review of the trial transcripts of every woman currently on death row in the …

Teach In English Or Perish: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Lives Of Three Emi Educators, Michela Gronchi

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Teaching in English Medium Instruction (EMI) programs can significantly reshape educators’ professional identities particularly when English is not their first language. This article summarizes a previously published phenomenological study with three Italian EMI educators in educational linguistics. Drawing on creative fortune lines to trace their experiences, the study showed that participants’ disciplinary field played a central role in their lived identity, intersecting with issues of language teaching and native-speakerist ideologies. The findings also revealed a heightened awareness of multilingual competence across English and other languages, which contributed to identity formation, alongside a pronounced tension between their professional selves expressed in …

Empowering International Students For Positive Social Risk-Taking In U.S. Higher Education, Maha Azzazi

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

During the acculturation process to their new life in the United States, international students can face challenges in building meaningful connections with their campus community due to difficulties in social integration. There has been limited research on finding effective ways to help international students overcome these challenges, despite numerous studies exploring the factors contributing to international students' disengagement, such as cultural and linguistic barriers and financial difficulties. To address this gap, this phenomenological qualitative study examines the experiences of eight international students at a US university. Among the themes that emerge from preliminary results are familiar challenges faced by students, …

Experience Therapy: How Service Experiences Regulate Everyday Negative Affect, Chang Ma Ph.D., Jae Eun Park, Alei Fan, Laurie Wu

Faculty Publications

In today's fast-paced and high-pressure society, maintaining emotional well-being requires effective strategies for managing everyday negative affect. This research examines the role of service experiences in reducing negative affect and introduces experience therapy as a novel strategy for affect regulation. Through a series of studies, we assess the effectiveness of experience therapy and investigate how different service experiences—varying in levels of personal effort involvement and social involvement—contribute to negative affect regulation. The findings demonstrate that experiences requiring high personal effort and social involvement are particularly effective in alleviating negative affect, especially among emotionally stressed individuals. These effects are mediated, respectively, …

Enhancing The Metacognitive Thinking Of Middle-Grade Multilingual Learners: A Design-Based Research Study Leveraging Dialogic Teaching, Renee R. Burns

Dissertations

This study explores how dialogic teaching can enhance metacognition and self-efficacy among middle school multilingual learners (MLs) who face challenges with the academic language demands of literacy tasks. Using a design-based research (DBR) methodology, specifically formative experiment, the Metacognitive Dialogic Teaching Protocol (MDTP) was implemented over seven iterative cycles. The research questions were as follows: How do dialogic interactions impact metacognition in middle-grade MLs? How does Metacognitive Dialogic Teaching affect comprehension development in these students? And how does it influence their self-efficacy? The participants included six middle-grade MLs engaged in a Tier 2 literacy intervention who initially exhibited fake reading …

Indigenous Child Language Research Report 1, Saad K’Idilyé, Indigenous Child Language Research Center

Indigenous Child Language Research Center

This report shares some of the preliminary finding of the research work that is being conducted by the Indigenous Child Language Research Center. The ICLRC aims to report to their community partner, Saad K’idilyé, the results of their groundbreaking work. This information is typically delivered in person at a planned meeting. This research is long-term and the data is being prepared for optimal analysis to be shared through published works, workshops, and conference presentations. This is the very first research report that came out of our partnership.

Initial Teacher Education Programs (Iteps) And Global Citizenship Education (Gce): A Comparative Study In Italy And Ireland, Giulia Filippi

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study examines how Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Italy and Ireland prepare future teachers for Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Although promoted internationally through SDG target 4.7 (UNESCO, 2015) and the Dublin Declaration (GENE, 2022), GCE remains unevenly integrated in teacher education. The research investigates two university contexts in Italy and Ireland, through a qualitative comparative case study combining document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with 32 participants (pre-service teachers and teacher educators). Findings indicate that GCE is systematically embedded in Ireland, while in Italy implementation result in more fragmented approaches. Shared challenges include conceptual ambiguity and the …

Investigation Of Warfarin–Human Serum Albumin Binding By Ultrafast Affinity Extraction Using Single- And Dual-Column Affinity Microcolumn Systems, Samiul Alim

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation examined the interaction of warfarin with human serum albumin (HSA) by using affinity chromatography, with particular emphasis on ultrafast affinity extraction (UAE) and affinity microcolumns. HSA affinity supports were prepared by immobilizing HSA onto diol-bonded silica via Schiff base chemistry and used to prepare affinity microcolumns for chromatographic studies under physiological-like conditions at pH 7.4 and 37.0 °C. UAE studies were performed to investigate the effects of residence time, flow rate, and column configuration on the measured apparent free fraction of warfarin and on the calculated apparent binding parameters. The results showed that the measured apparent free fraction …

Grapho 2026, Simon Niemtschk

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Grapho’s theme this year, “One Body in Christ”, encourages us to meditate on the ways our faith unites. By our Lord’s sacrifice, all believers are bound together with the resurrected body of Christ. Inspired by the great love God shared with the church as seen in Paul’s letters (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13), we are freed from sin, death and the power of the devil, and empowered to a life together. Our theme this year invites Christians to consider how our unity is found scripturally, sacramentally, and liturgically.

Sisters Separated: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Relationship Between The Lcms And Wels, Peter Ross

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

There are two prominent confessional Lutheran synods in the United States, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Yet these two groups are not in altar and pulpit fellowship. It often comes as a surprise to many younger members of Missouri Synod congregations that there was a time when the two synods were in altar and pulpit fellowship. As time has gone on however, there seems to be a general warming in the relationship between the two synods. In light of this warming relationship, it is good to look at the past relationship of the two synods, …

One Body?, Christopher Genzler

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

By Christopher Genszler “One Body, In Christ”. This is a great theme. Biblical. Staunch. Solid. But when I read this, I had a small twinge in my heart. I remembered the youth groups. I remembered the summer camps. I really couldn’t help myself in connecting the two because they have become so very similar. The parents drop the child off for some good, Christian education, but then go elsewhere. Parents everywhere have an option to be as unengaged with their child’s walk with Christ as they see fit. I know I don’t know all of the situations they may be …

An Ode To The “Free Book Shelf”, Henry Eising

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

It is rumored the younger generation does not know those solid joys and lasting pleasures in those ancient treasures. O tempora, O mores! — William Dallmann, My Life When a new mound of books begins to accumulate in some obscure corner of our campus, it is as though new life is stirring. There is excitement when it is brought to our attention that some seminarian of uncommon fortune has been given a set of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Our ears prick up at the hushed mention of some Ancient Christian Commentary volumes that have been acquired, which have also—blessedly—been made available …

“One Body”, Rory Fry

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Often when people talk about the church, they talk about a building. They will say things like, “I will see you at the church,” or “It is our month to clean the church.” They speak of the church as though it were one specific place in time and space. Yet the church is so much more than that. It is more than a building, more than a single location.

Chapel Of Saints Timothy And Titus, Nathaniel Pekari

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Chapel of Saints Timothy and Titus

Broad Table, Joshua Fields

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Broad Table

At The First, O Word Incarnate, Jacob Moede

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

At the First, O Word Incarnate

We Believe In God The One, Jacob Moede

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

We Believe in God the One

New Faces And Voices For Spring, Nina Mchale

Collaborative Librarianship

The Spring 2026 issue highlights new perspectives on collaborative collection stewardship, strategic communication, and innovative partnerships across academic libraries. Feature columns and field reports explore data‑driven shared print models, large‑scale rightsizing communication strategies, and the evolving role of shared print in ensuring long‑term access to legacy collections. Peer‑reviewed articles examine trends in joint‑use libraries, communication practices in digital project collaborations, and a creative museum–library partnership that expanded student engagement. The issue also welcomes two new copy editors and invites readers to connect at ALA Annual or participate in the journal’s growing volunteer community.

Jo March And "Me": Self-Recognition And Enchantment In Greta Gerwig's Portrayal Of Literary Ambition In Little Women, Britney R. Wells

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

Despite the cinematic success of Greta Gerwig’s 2019 Little Women, literary scholars have yet to compare Gerwig’s directorial moves to Louisa May Alcott’s nineteenth-century novel. Relying on reader-response theory and peer-reviewed literature relevant to Alcott’s text, I examine Gerwig’s statements in interviews following the production of her film, focusing on comments that speak to her subjective response as a reader of Alcott’s novel. Rather than apply reader-response theory to this discussion broadly, I concentrate on what reader-response theorists call self-recognition and enchantment within the context of Gerwig’s response to Alcott’s Little Women. Further acknowledging this paper’s limitations, I …

Robotic-Assisted Pedicle Screw Placement Achieves High Accuracy And Narrows The Experience Gap: A Preclinical Evaluation, Anna T. Reza, Matthias Walper, Mitchell K. Ng, Paul G. Mastrokostas, Andrew S. Lee, Rafael G. Rafael, Kornelis A. Poelstra, Ratliff K. John, Rajiv K. Sethi, Michael A. Mont

Rothman Institute Papers

To assess a robotic-assisted system versus open manual techniques to: (1) compare pedicle screw accuracy between fellows and attendings with and without robotic assistance, and (2) evaluate executed versus planned trajectory fidelity relative to prior reports. Robotic-assisted spine systems aim to improve the accuracy, reproducibility, and safety of pedicle screw placement. Limited evidence compares outcomes across differing surgeon experience levels. A total of 255 thoracolumbar pedicle screws were placed in synthetic torsos simulating adult degenerative anatomy. Four surgeons (two fellows, two attendings) each placed half their screws using open fluoroscopy-guided techniques and half using a minimally invasive percutaneous approach with …

Beyond The "Mucha Woman": Ornamental Invariance And Sarah Bernhardt's Cross-Gender Poster Persona, 1894-1899, Rose Mary Weigand, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Alphonse Mucha's recurring female figure is often treated as a unified Art Nouveau type, alternately interpreted as an erotic commodity, a decorative ideal, or an emblem of the New Woman. This article argues that the category becomes analytically unstable when it is applied to the theater posters Mucha designed for Sarah Bernhardt. Through close visual comparison of Gismonda (1894), Lorenzaccio (1896), Médée (1898), and Hamlet (1899), with JOB (1896) serving as a commercial countertype, the study develops the concept of ornamental invariance: a stable graphic system that preserves celebrity recognition while role, costume, narrative action, and gender change. Mucha's elongated …

Project Strata, Hobbs Hegedus, Antony Chen, Adrian Scancich, Peter Constantine Psefteas, Ryan Kreis Roth, Jack Douglas Mitchell

Mechanical Engineering

Project STRATA is a lunar sample acquisition and storage system developed in support of NASA’s Artemis mission objectives and the 2026 NASA RASC-AL competition. The overall mission concept utilizes a dual-rover architecture consisting of HARVEST, a sample collection rover, and SILO, a storage rover designed to preserve and organize lunar ice-regolith core samples collected from permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near the lunar south pole. These regions contain scientifically valuable volatile-rich materials but present significant challenges due to extreme cryogenic temperatures, abrasive lunar regolith, and the absence of solar energy.

This report is a collection of all major work from the …

Custom Animatronic Puppet, Jake Schuman, Fredy Herrarte, Madison Reedy, Jackson Reynolds

Mechanical Engineering

This project involved the design, fabrication, and implementation of a custom audio-animatronic puppet modeled after Dr. Brian Davis for the California Polytechnic State University Mechanical Engineering Department. The objective was to create an expressive, lifelike character capable of synchronized speech, head movement, arm gestures, and seated-to-standing motion while demonstrating the integration of mechanical design, controls, manufacturing, and artistic fabrication.

The final system consists of an 18-degree-of-freedom animatronic platform utilizing servo-driven facial and upper-body actuation combined with a pneumatic standing mechanism. A modular aluminum and 3D-printed structural framework was developed using SolidWorks and validated through engineering analysis. Character shells were digitally …

Compressor Rotor Joints And Interference Fit Study, Isabela Jimenez, Aubrey Perez, Isaiah Guerrero, Jireh Velasquez

Mechanical Engineering

Solar Turbines need a comprehensive study on the effects axial and radial inference fits have on turbine compressor rotor stiffness. The aft weldment of the compressor has press-fit dowel pins and pilot joints to connect one weldment section to another. These fits need to be assessed through a finite element modal analysis, as well as practically tested through modal impacts to investigate how the fits affect the stiffness of the turbine’s connected weldments. The experimental data will be used to validate the finite element analysis (FEA) model.

Forged Carbon Fiber Adventure Project, Timothy Villafana, Victor Javadoff, Nathan Pittiglio, Cooper Starr

Mechanical Engineering

Forged carbon fiber compression molding remains a relatively under-researched manufacturing process. While there are documented processes online, the options are few and far between. Our sponsor and case-study user, Dr. Mello, tasked us with the goal of researching and developing a process for forged carbon fiber compression molding through means of modifying his prototype of a bike pack handlebar cradle (figure 3). This prototype will allow us to create tooling which will be used to manufacture a handlebar cradle that can withstand larger loads and more extreme environments using our developed process. A handlebar cradle is a structural support for …

Raytheon Rtx Autonomous Vehicle Competition (Avc) - Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Ugv), Bryant Jonathan Martinez-Bautista, Geovanni Lara, Jared Herrera, Jose Barrera

Mechanical Engineering

Raytheon RTX has four universities participating in a competition to successfully complete various challenges with a UAV and UGV including navigation and landing. The students must work collaboratively to integrate and manufacture a working UGV that is compatible with the UAV.

Our sponsor is Raytheon, more specifically Mr. Luis Esparza. Important stakeholders also include Cal Poly and the entire team of ME & CPE working on the project. Raytheon and Luis are looking for innovative solutions that can be applied for real world scenarios where UAV’s and UGV’s are applied. Cal Poly is gaining recognition, and the team is gaining …