Involuntary major changes: Student narrative about what helped and hindered their adaptability

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Special Education, Counseling and Student AffairsWendy G. TroxelCareer services professionals and academic advisors support students as they pursue their goals. Yet, scholars know little about the lived experiences of students placed into alternative degree programs after they fail to secure admission or are rescinded from a selective or regulated professional program such as nursing, teaching, or social work. This narrative inquiry study examines the critical events of participants who survived unplanned academic loss included in stories about their undergraduate education. Individual interviews with participants humanized and brought voice to their coping strategies, barriers, career decision-making, and persisting toward graduation. Higher education leaders can use the findings to foster policy revisions, cross-departmental well-being collaboration, and strategic support during individual conversations with students coping with change

Goals of Project Shop Well

Hello! My name is Rhianna Thomas and I am the founder of Project Shop Well, which is aimed at helping Americans start regularly buying from sources that truly promote human dignity. Because our market is saturated with companies who outsource their employment to sweatshops across the globe, there is a long way to go before we will be able to freely buy goods without worrying about where they were made. But a good way to start encouraging businesses to employ more ethical practices is to quit buying from the ones that do not. One of the first things that we can do is stop buying goods made in China

LINKING LOGAN: Reconnecting the Logan Triangle

The purpose of this project is to reinvigorate the Logan Neighborhood through the revitalization and reengagement of the Logan Triangle. Through traditional row housing, multi-family apartment complexes, investments in local businesses with prime retail space; combined with a multi-faceted community center, exceptional amphitheater space, and extensive greenspace, we look to turn Logan Triangle from a blighted oversight into a point of pride for the Logan Neighborhood

Phosphorus Fluxes in a Restored Carolina Bay Wetland Following Eight Years of Restoration

Restoring wetlands on agricultural land can release soil phosphorus (P) to surface waters. Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient in many freshwater systems, thus restricting its release will improve surface water quality by preventing algal blooms. A P balance was used to examine how P was cycling in a Carolina Bay wetland eight years after restoration from prior-drained agricultural land. The change in soil P was evaluated between archived samples taken at restoration (2005), and eight years after restoration (2013). Measured P fluxes included atmospheric deposition, plant uptake, and loss to surface water outflow. The soil total P pool at the time of restoration was 810 kg P ha-1. No significant (α=0.05) decrease in the soil P pool was observed over the eight years. Atmospheric deposition contributed 1.0 kg P ha-1 yr-1, plants incorporated 3.3 P ha-1 yr-1 into woody biomass and 0.4 kg P ha-1 yr-1 as forest floor litter, and 0.2 kg P ha-1 yr-1 was lost to surface waters draining the wetland. Because the loss of P to surface waters was small, and because runoff water concentrations of P declined through this period of study to concentrations below those likely to cause eutrophication (< 0.1 mg L-1), we concluded that the wetland was not contributing to the degradation of surface water quality of nearby streams following restoration. Further, isolated wetlands such as that studied may be promising sites for future wetland mitigation projects due to limited impacts on surface water quality

The Career Choices We Make: Balancing Ambition, Personal Fulfillment, and Life as an Academic Librarian

This chapter is for those among us who reach the midpoint of our careers and contemplate taking a higher-level position or doing the opposite and moving to positions that involve less leadership responsibility. We suspect that the ideas we express will apply to many in the profession. However, we acknowledge that gender, race, and identity play a strong role in career paths and opportunities. Yet, who among us has not felt that we could make significant improvements, if only we were in charge? And who among those who are in charge has not once yearned for a release from feeling responsible for the performance of others? Our advice will not apply to everyone; however, we feel that our combined experience is likely to ensure that it is relevant to the majority of professionals in librarianship. We begin by describing our career paths, both of which are quite nonlinear. Our exposition includes reflection on our motivations for the twists and turns we have navigated. We then describe the nature of the work as well as the ways this work has impacted us in the many positions we have had, which collectively span the gamut from library liaison to unit head to department head to dean. Given our diverse experience, we expect that these narratives will resonate with many of you and thereby serve to provide insights relevant to your own situation. Additionally, the contrasting approaches we offer may create opportunities for those who are undecided. After sharing our experiences in academic libraries, we provide practical advice based on the lessons we have learned from our journeys and conversations with many colleagues. Here we present guidance for deciding whether to pursue a position with more or less leadership responsibility. This takes the form of actionable strategies and motivational mindsets. We end with tips for successfully transitioning into a new position and taking full advantage of the opportunities it can provide for growth and fulfillment. Through our explorations and conversations, we conclude that career trajectories depend on highly personal and situational factors for everyone

Fischer’sFur Babies Veterinary Clinic

I have wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as I can remember. I was accepted into veterinary school as a senior in high school through Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Early Admittance Program. Throughout my college journey, I’ve focused on Animal Science, Spanish, and Risk Management. For my Honors Project, I decided to combine my future entrepreneurial plans with my desire to help animals by designing my own veterinary practice. Since I am passionate about both private practice and shelter medicine, this plan combines the unique aspects of both. The idea for Fischer’s Fur Babies Veterinary Clinic came from my experience with the Animal Rescue Foundation in Chicago, IL. Seeing the impact that these foster organizations have on the lives of thousands of homeless animals fueled my desire to help make a difference. That is why our clinic is so focused on helping shelters and foster organizations. We are paying homage to the volunteers who dedicate their lives to this neverending work. This report details the key attributes of a veterinary clinic that bridges the gap between private practice and shelter medicine. It will explore different aspects of vertical integration and various activities the veterinary clinic will participate in to help better the lives of animals

Considerations with using unmanned aircraft systems in turfgrass

In recent years, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) and advancements in remote sensing technology have provided alternative and more affordable means for monitoring crop health and stress than ground-based (hand-held or vehicle-mounted) or other aerial-based platforms (manned aircraft or satellites). However, few scientific studies have evaluated the application of sUAS in turfgrass systems. The use of sUAS in monitoring turfgrass requires an understanding of basic remote sensing principles; identifying the target of interest and the various sUAS platforms and sensors that provide the necessary resolution and frequencies to measure and monitor that target; calibration of sensors in the field; and data processing considerations. Those topics are discussed, followed by reviews of recent turfgrass field studies conducted to predict and manage drought stress and pest outbreaks, and improve phenotyping capabilities in turfgrass breeding programs. The use of sUAS remote sensing in turfgrass offers unique possibilities and challenges, which are addressed herein

Design of emulsion-based adjuvants for animal vaccines

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Chemical EngineeringJohn R. SchlupJishu N. ShiVaccination is one of the most essential steps in controlling and preventing economically important infectious diseases in livestock. Vaccines need to be effective at producing a high level of immune responses that protect the animal from future encounters with infectious agents. Additional requirements for veterinary vaccines include safety, inexpensive components, and feasibility for large-scale production. These factors make emulsions attractive vaccine adjuvants. The use of emulsions as adjuvants (substances that help to amplify the immune responses to the antigen) has been explored for decades. However, emulsions are commonly produced with expensive and energy-demanding devices which impact the price of the adjuvant, therefore, affecting the price of the vaccines. This study examined low-energy emulsification methods to meet the requirements for a simple and low-cost vaccine manufacture that avoided utilizing complicated equipment. Spontaneous emulsification (SE) and phase inversion composition (PIC) was explored to formulate stable emulsions with nanometer droplet sizes. The study on the impact of oil composition on the formation of emulsions produced by SE revealed that addition of medium-chain triglycerides into the oil phase is beneficial for droplet size reduction and stability of emulsions. Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to develop mathematical relationships between formulation variables and droplet size, polydispersity, zeta potential, and stability of emulsions formulated via SE. The BBD allowed the study of a simultaneous effect of multiple variables and formulate emulsions with certain physical characteristics, an effect that suggested that there was a more effective approach in designing complex systems like emulsions. New adjuvants containing mixtures of oils and surfactants were developed to produce emulsions with nanoscale droplet diameters and multiple water-in-oil-in-water structures via the PIC approach. The strong antibody responses and the absence of injection site side effects were observed in animals that received emulsion vaccines with experimental adjuvants. Additionally, inexpensive food-grade saponin extract was examined for stabilizing and increasing immunostimulatory activity of oil-in-water emulsion-based adjuvants. The adjuvants demonstrated high immune responses in pigs after co-administration with a subunit protein antigen

F.I.T. Closet Translation Tool and Written Reflection

My Honors Project focused on creating a translation tool for the volunteers at the F.I.T. Closet in Manhattan to utilize when helping Spanish-speaking shoppers. Using my semester's experience volunteering as a Spanish interpreter at the F.I.T. Closet (during Fall 2022), collaborating with the coordinator, the English-speaking volunteers, and Spanish-speaking shoppers at the F.I.T. Closet, and researching and comparing similar materials, I created translations of Spanish words and phrases that would facilitate communication for these different linguistic groups. In a written response, I give background information about the project, detail what I learned while volunteering at the F.I.T. Closet, reflect on how my experience at the F.I.T. Closet shaped my decisions in the production of the translation tool, explain how my research on other materials influenced the design of the tool, consider some of the difficulties during the process, and share what I have discovered during the community-based learning experience