Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cybersecurity Center For Offshore Wind Energy (Final Project Round), Sachin Shetty

Center for Secure and Intelligent Critical Systems (CSICS) Publications

This project establishes a Cybersecurity Center for Offshore Wind Energy with the objective of designing and operating a cyber-physical testbed for wind energy farms (WEFs) that enables comprehensive cybersecurity research. The testbed incorporates a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system connected to turbine models via industrial-grade programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units (RTUs). It supports side-channel data acquisition, implementation and analysis of various cyberattack scenarios, and development of attack detection, mitigation, and best-practice guidance tailored to wind energy systems. During the project, the team expanded the number and fidelity of mathematical turbine models (MTMs), integrated these models …

Toggling (De) Legitimization: How Presidential Candidates Framed Israel And Antisemitism On The 2024 Campaign Trail, Kate Chasin

Honors Theses

This study explores how Joe Biden and Donald Trump changed the way they framed Israel and antisemitism in speeches on the 2024 campaign trail, depending on whether they were speaking to a Jewish or non-Jewish audience. 55 speeches were examined, containing language on American-Israeli relations, the Israel-Hamas War, and antisemitism, manually categorized by frame, and compared for rhetorical shifts based on whether the audience was Jewish. When speaking to a Jewish audience about Israel, candidates humanized themselves as a campaign tool. When speaking about antisemitism, candidates used the form of hatred as a campaign tool.

Spillover Effects Of Medicare Advantage On Fee-For-Service Post-Acute Care Spending, Nyel Bangash

Honors Theses

Does the growth of Medicare Advantage reduce fee-for-service post-acute care spending through practice-pattern spillovers, or do observed spending differences primarily reflect favorable selection? Using a county-level panel of roughly 2,700 counties (2014–2023) and a two-way fixed effects specification, I find that a one percentage-point increase in MA penetration is associated with $9.54 less per-capita standardized FFS spending. Spending per episode falls while participation rates remain stable, consistent with practice-pattern spillovers rather than compositional changes from selection. Welfare indicators from County Health Rankings, CDC PLACES, and CMS Care Compare show no evidence that spending reductions harm health or care quality. The …

Education And The Maternal Childcare Gap: Evidence From The Uk Covid-19 Pandemic, Lara Bakhaya

Honors Theses

This paper examines whether college education shapes working mothers’ access to remote work, flexible working, and childcare hours in the United Kingdom, and whether COVID-19 school closures amplified these inequalities. Using data from the UK Time Use Survey (2016–2021), a repeated cross-sectional diary dataset spanning the pre-pandemic period and five COVID-19 waves, this paper estimates weighted logistic and ordinary least squares regressions on a sample of married or cohabiting, employed mothers. School closures serve as a natural experiment, providing an exogenous shock to caregiving demands that affected all mothers simultaneously regardless of education level. College education significantly predicted working from …

The Market Signal Of Climate Risk: Examining Disaster-Linked Insurance Costs And Home Values, Anika Donohue

Honors Theses

As natural disasters increase in frequency, the resulting rise in insurance premiums threatens a systemic housing affordability crisis across the United States. Leveraging a unique private insurance market dataset, this paper investigates the capitalization of rising premiums into home values and the resulting impact on housing affordability and underinsurance levels. Focusing on the impacts of Hurricane Florence (2018) in North Carolina, I employ a Difference-in-Differences framework to separately analyze the impacts of storm severity on property values and insurance premiums. I find that while property values decrease in proportion to storm severity, functioning as a primary risk signal, insurance premiums …

Pay Gaps At The Top: How Ceo–Executive Compensation Disparity Affect Firm Performance, Anh Que Diep

Honors Theses

This paper examines the relationship between executive compensation disparity and firm performance using S&P 500 firms. CEO Pay Slice (CPS) is used to measure pay disparity, and firm performance is measured by Tobin’s Q and ROA. The results from fixed effects models show an inverted U-shaped relationship between CPS and firm performance, with performance maximized at approximately a 60% CEO Pay Slice. Further analysis decomposes CPS into fixed and performance-based components. The results show that fixed compensation disparity is positively and consistently associated with firm performance, while performance-based disparity has weaker and less robust effects. Taken together, the findings suggest …

Ethics And Art: Fulfilling Your Aesthetic Obligations To The Fullest, Zoe Epstein

Honors Theses

My thesis defends the existence of aesthetic obligations, or the duty to engage with aesthetics, primarily in relation to the arts. I find completing aesthetic duties results in greater intellectual growth, virtues, and quality of life. Secondly, I argue you should consume and create human-made art over AI-generated art because human art has higher aesthetic value. Finally, I discuss the extent to which worth and non-worthy immoral art plays a beneficial role in fulfilling aesthetic obligations.

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Racial Justice In Virginia Higher Education, Abigail Green

Honors Theses

This honors thesis examines the extent to which public Virginia higher education institutions engage their institutional histories in leadership rhetoric when responding to the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Employing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) following Mullet’s (2018) seven-step framework with an inductive coding approach and grounded in rhetorical history theory, this study analyzes official statements from the Offices of the President and Provost across four case study institutions: the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University (GMU), the College of William & Mary (W&M), and Longwood University (LU). Data sources span two time periods: May 2020 …

Gender-Diverse State Legislative Candidates In The United States: Identity Used Strategically On Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman

Honors Theses

In this honors thesis, I evaluate how transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse state legislative candidates in the United States use their campaign websites to communicate messages related to gender identity to voters, and the potential effects of communication on electoral success. I used a dataset of eighty-nine candidates between 2014 and 2024, and coded fifty-four candidate websites to measure how candidates describe their personal identity and communicate about issues related to gender identity, like LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination and gender-affirming care. While existing research evaluates how voters respond to LGBTQ+ candidates, this thesis examines how candidates potentially attract voters through their campaign …

“What Are The Security Issues Surrounding Cislunar Space And Lunar Resources? How Do Theories Of International Politics And Territory Apply To Those Issues?”, Ina Loka

Honors Theses

In the recent decades, cislunar space has attracted significant interest among the biggest spacefaring nations, Russia, China, and the United States. Cislunar space is no longer a distant subject solely associated with scientific studies. It has become a crucial domain in the conduct of military operations and its importance has been increasingly emphasised in these states’ military doctrines. In an environment where the intentions of other actors are hard to determine and where there is a high degree of uncertainty, these three states are ramping up their (counter)space capabilities in order to protect themselves from any adversarial attacks, and to …

Mechanisms Driving Disparities In Income Mobility Across The Income Distribution, Joe Larkins

Honors Theses

This study examines intergenerational income persistence across the income distribution, testing whether mechanisms driving inequality differ between families in the top and bottom halves of the income distribution. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of 8th grade students and their parents, this research estimates an interaction model comparing parental income effects for children in advantaged versus disadvantaged economic circumstances. The analysis reveals that a $1,000 increase in parental income yields eight times greater income gains for children in the bottom half of the distribution compared to those in the top …

The Conscription Imperative: A Philosophical, Paternalist, And Egalitarian Case For Universal National Service, Timothy Wenhsiang Khoh

Honors Theses

Inspired by my experience as a conscript for two years prior to college, this three-chapter honors thesis presents a philosophical justification and proposal for an American implementation of a national service model. This thesis seeks to justify conscription (a) on moral/ethical grounds as a coercive measure, (b) as a paternalistic policy, and (c) on egalitarian grounds. More broadly, my national service proposal contributes to the debate on methods and measures the American government ought to pursue to increase equity and solidarity among an ever-polarized citizenry.

Mnes Vs. Local Firms’ Resilience To Global Shocks: Evidence From The 2008 Financial Crisis And Covid-19, Yijie Wang

Honors Theses

This thesis examines whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) are more resilient than domestic firms during major global shocks, using the 2008 Financial Crisis and COVID-19 as case studies. Although MNEs may benefit from diversification, internal capital markets, and foreign linkages, they may also face greater exposure to global demand shrinkage and supplychain disruption.

Using Compustat North America firm-level panel data from WRDS, this study analyzes publicly listed U.S. and Canadian firms across 2007–2013 and 2018–2024. Firm resilience is measured through net sales, net income, and gross profit using a two-way fixed effects panel model. Multinational status is identified through two different …

From Shock To Routine: The Evolving Impact Of Shutdown-Related Sentiment On Stock Markets, Yiran Shao

Honors Theses

To address gaps in existing research, this paper selects two U.S. government shutdown periods, 2018-2019 and 2025, as research samples to explore the effect of policy uncertainty on sentiment. This paper primarily analyzes the following two research questions.

First, what is the correlation between government shutdown-related sentiment during the shutdown period and daily market fluctuations? Specifically, can the sentiment index constructed from shutdown-related news effectively predict the next-day stock return during the event period?

Second, does the market have a learning effect? That is, between 2018-2019 and 2025, has the relationship between shutdown-related emotions and market outcomes weakened, shortened the …

Borrowing By Committee: An Analysis Of The Link Between Government Type And Sovereign Debt, René Polanco

Honors Theses

Previous literature is divided about the impact of democracy on sovereign debt. In the context of the third wave of autocratization (Lührmann & Lindberg, 2019), this paper uses a new dataset (the Episodes of Regime Transformation) focused on regime transitions to analyze the impact of democracy and regime change on the levels of sovereign debt for a panel of 167 nations between 2008 and 2024. I examine how democracy impacts debt level, borrowing, and debt service and dovetail these results with analogous ones regarding how states of transition impact the same measures. By including this extra wrinkle of government transition, …

Associations Between College Students' Belonging, Classroom-Based Relationships, And Mental Health Outcomes, Ella Grace Will

Honors Theses

Humans have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). A lack of belonging is associated with negative mental health outcomes, making it important to study student belonging in higher education (Strayhorn, 2019). Classroom-based relationships with professors and peers positively impact students' belonging (Tinto, 1993). The purpose of this study was to evaluate: the relative contribution of professor trust and peer interactions to classroom and university belonging, and to assess the associations between student belonging and internalizing symptoms. Survey data were collected via Qualtrics in September 2025 (baseline) and December 2025 from students in 32 first-year seminars participating in …

Drafting Policy To Address Academic Integrity: The Other Ai In Education, Elizabeth Burns

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the role of school librarians in drafting policies to address academic integrity amid the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education. It defines AI, including generative AI (GenAI), and discusses both the challenges and opportunities AI presents for teaching and learning, emphasizing the need for clear guidelines on ethical use. The article outlines three common AI policy models—permissive, hybrid, and restrictive—and stresses the importance of collaboration between librarians and teachers to establish consistent expectations, promote critical thinking, and ensure proper attribution of AI-generated content. School librarians are positioned as key facilitators in guiding students …

“So They Know The Library Is A Space For Them”: School Librarians’ Understandings And Perspectives On The Significance Of Diverse Representation In Book Collections, Kim R. Krutka

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This exploratory survey distributed to Texas school librarians was designed to gain insight into the significance of diverse representation in school libraries based on school librarians’ understandings and perceptions. Rudine Sims Bishop’s metaphor of books as “mirrors and windows” was a foundation for this study. Foundational and critical literature related to this metaphor and diverse representation as well as an interpretivist approach were used to guide the methods and analysis. Conclusions from this study support a narrative of school libraries related to diverse representation through four themes: librarians center students in practices and decision-making; librarians believe in the power of …

A Comparison Of Conversational Chatbots And The Internet For Consumer Information Search, Wondwesen Tafesse, Yoseph Mamo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study compares consumer perceptions of conversational chatbots and the internet for information search. While the internet is a mature platform, conversational chatbots represent an emerging technology, and insight into how consumers view them in relation to the internet for information search is lacking. Drawing on the information source utility perspective, the study builds a comparative model based on four key dimensions: information currency, information customisation, information trustworthiness, and media richness. Additionally, the study investigates consumers’ prior experience with conversational chatbots as a moderating factor. Data was collected from 191 respondents recruited through MTurk. Paired sample t-tests assessed mean differences …

Letter From The Dean, Jeff Edwards

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog 2026-2027, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2026-2027 undergraduate and graduate course catalog. Course catalogs are published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Barriers To Healthcare For Traditionally-Aged Lgbq+ College Students, Parker Long

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Seeking and receiving high-quality healthcare are key components of healthy living. Greater access to high-quality healthcare is associated with higher quality of life (Bunker, 2001). Despite the many benefits of quality healthcare, many people face barriers to accessing quality healthcare, resulting in poorer physical and mental health outcomes (Jatrana & Crampton, 2021). Individuals who identify as LGBQ+ face serious health disparities as a marginalized group. The current research was designed to examine and address these specific barriers to accessing high-quality healthcare among LGBQ+ traditionally-aged college students in order to inform ways to improve access to care. Specifically, this study investigated …

Assessing Attitudes Toward Ai Futures: Perceived Likelihood And Policy Preferences, David Chavanne

Economics Faculty Publications

The experiment presented in this paper uses vignettes to measure the perceived likelihood of different AI futures and assess how policy preferences change across these futures. One vignette varies the degree of future AI-driven job loss in a hypothetical scenario set five years into the future, while another vignette varies the degree of future AI autonomy across the same timeframe. Participants provide their perceived likelihood that the world will resemble the scenario in the vignette, and they also express their level of support for either universal basic income (UBI) or a jobs-guarantee program (JG) if the world in five years …

Policy Snapshot : Health Insurance Trends Among Child Care Educators, Sara Amadon

Straus Institute for Thriving Children & Families

This brief compares the health insurance status of child care educators in 2019 and 2024—spanning the COVID-19 pandemic and preceding 2026H.R.1’s implementation—to highlight shifting coverage patterns and state-level solutions to safeguard this essential workforce.

Dispositional Correlates Of Mobile Dating Application Users’ Self-Presentation Behaviors, Danielle Rafal

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Introduction: Mobile dating applications (MDAs) have moved from niche to norm, making connecting with others easier. A problem with MDAs is the accuracy of user self-presentation. Dispositional characteristics such as personality traits, psychological distress, and age may be factors that drive MDA users’ self-presentation behaviors. This study explored whether the extent of discrepancy between deceptive and real self-presentation predicts psychological distress, whether Big Five traits enhance this prediction, and whether age group influenced self-presentation among MDA users.

Method: Using a cross-sectional quantitative survey-based design, 160 MDA users ages 18 and older residing in the United States completed the following measures: …

Examining The Psychosocial Impact Of Having An Adolescent Sibling With A Leukemia Diagnosis, Jordan A. Barczak

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The current research regarding the impact of having a sibling undergoing cancer treatment is inconsistent and limited in scope. The current study explored the psychosocial effects, including peer relationships, academic outcomes, and overall mood in siblings of children with a cancer diagnosis. This study also explored the interaction patterns between children, their siblings with a leukemia diagnosis, and other members of the family. The participants of this study consisted of five youth from different families with a child or adolescent sibling with a leukemia diagnosis. The participants were recruited via social media and other community outreach avenues. Participants were between …

Increasing The Efficiency Of Screening For Severity Level Of Neurocognitive Impairment In The Corrections Sample: An Exploratory Study, Kelly Denton

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is a serious and potentially devastating health condition that can cause several lasting deleterious consequences affecting many domains of life. Difficulties are commonly reported in cognition, emotional, and social functioning, in addition to physical impairment. ABI disproportionally affects different groups, including the corrections population, which is five times more likely than the general population to have an ABI. However, there is limited research on the severity of neurocognitive impairment after an ABI for inmates in a correctional setting. It was hoped that the current study would help clarify the characteristics of ABI that result in different …

Examining Developmental Outcomes And Follow-Up Engagement Among High-Risk Preterm Infants In A Diverse Urban Nicu Program, Madyson Kolbes

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Preterm infants are at elevated risk for developmental delays across cognitive, language, and motor domains, yet factors associated with engagement in NICU follow-up care remain poorly understood, particularly in diverse, urban populations. This study examined developmental outcomes at initial NICU follow-up and explored factors associated with follow-up completion among high-risk preterm infants. Participants included 174 infants enrolled in a hospital-based NICU follow-up program who completed an initial developmental screening using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Fourth Edition Screener (Bayley-4 Screener). A subset of 58 infants completed a second screening visit. Binary logistic regression was used to examine …

The Influence Of Parental Attitudes On Perceptions Of Gender Socialization In Their Children, Tareva Cortes

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Gender socialization begins early in childhood and plays a significant role in shaping children's beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions of themselves and others. Parents serve as primary agents of gender socialization and contribute to children's understanding of gender roles through attitudes, expectations, and reinforcement of gender-related behaviors. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine parental attitudes regarding traditional gender roles, modern sexism, and children's gender-related behaviors. Participants included 163 parents and legal guardians residing in the United States who had at least one child under the age of 18. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Child Gender Socialization Scale, …