Open Doors 2024 Annual Data Release

Watch the release! The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education were pleased to release new findings from the Open Doors® Report on International Educational Exchange. Experts presented data on international student enrollments in the United States during the 2023/24 academic year and U.S. students studying abroad during the 2022/23 academic year. This event was held in conjunction with the worldwide observance of International Education Week and the 75th anniversary of the Open Doors report

Fostering Equity in Engineering Education

Students in introductory engineering courses face challenges communicating and integrating their ideas in team projects. Often, these challenges with team communication fall along gendered lines, where women students experience marginalization in team settings. This project builds from prior research in the field of engineering education, which integrated frameworks from the domains of engineering education and technical and professional communication to implement this research into a classroom intervention aimed at reducing the gendered disparity in these communication challenges. To help resolve these issues, this project utilizes a new research method called infrastructural rhetorical analysis to develop an educational intervention case study involving the experiences of women in the first-year engineering classroom to determine a concrete classroom intervention that aims to make the most difference with the least amount of resources needed to implement it

Assessing the Viability of a Facility Dog in Higher Education to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health

This research study investigates the impact of a facility dog on the mental health and stress levels of college students in a higher education setting. College is a pivotal yet challenging time for many students, marked by significant transitions and increased susceptibility to mental health issues. With mental health disorders predominantly surfacing between the ages of 18-24, a demographic that coincides with the typical college age, higher education institutions are facing a mental health crisis. In response, some have begun integrating therapy and facility dogs into their campuses to provide therapeutic support. A facility dog, distinct from a therapy dog, operates within a single setting, offering continuous therapeutic services. This study focuses on one higher education institution’s facility dog and its effect on students\u27 mental health. Through a two-phase data collection process involving 20 participants, the study employs pre-surveys, the Coleman Dog Attitude Scale (C-DAS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory State (STAIS-5), and Trait (STAIT-5) measures, along with biometric data collected via Whoops® bands. Participants will engage in regular contact with Higbee, with their anxiety levels and biometric data monitored before and after interaction periods. The study aims to correlate students\u27 perceptions of and actual biometric responses to regular contact with a facility dog, providing insights into the potential mental health benefits of such interventions in higher education settings

How Intensity Impacts Success in Collegiate Flight Programs

With colleges and universities continuing to face challenges around student retention and degree completion, collegiate aviation program are attempting to find ways to improve the success rate of students enrolled in their programs. This is more important than ever as the demand for pilots in the commercial aviation industry continues to grow (Boeing, 2022). Research has shown that there is a connection between effort and success in higher education. Astin (1993) identified and measured student effort by the amount of time spent on tasks studying. He indicated a positive correlation with almost every academic outcome he tested, including grades, persistence, and cognitive and social growth. This study utilizes Astin’s IEO model to look at the impact of intensity on student success in collegiate flight programs. While research on this area exists for higher education in general, there is little research that includes the unique aspects that are part of these aviation specific programs

Density and Magnetic Field Asymmetric Kelvin‐Helmholtz Instability

The Kelvin‐Helmholtz (KH) instability can transport mass, momentum, magnetic flux, and energy between the magnetosheath and magnetosphere, which plays an important role in the solar‐wind‐ magnetosphere coupling process for different planets. Meanwhile, strong density and magnetic field asymmetry are often present between the magnetosheath (MSH) and magnetosphere (MSP), which could affect the transport processes driven by the KH instability. Our magnetohydrodynamics simulation shows that the KH growth rate is insensitive to the density ratio between the MSP and the MSH in the compressible regime, which is different than the prediction from linear incompressible theory. When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is parallel to the planet\u27s magnetic field, the nonlinear KH instability can drive a double mid‐latitude reconnection (DMLR) process. The total double reconnected flux depends on the KH wavelength and the strength of the lower magnetic field. When the IMF is anti‐parallel to the planet\u27s magnetic field, the nonlinear interaction between magnetic reconnection and the KH instability leads to fast reconnection (i.e., close to Petschek reconnection even without including kinetic physics). However, the peak value of the reconnection rate still follows the asymmetric reconnection scaling laws. We also demonstrate that the DMLR process driven by the KH instability mixes the plasma from different regions and consequently generates different types of velocity distribution functions. We show that the counter‐streaming beams can be simply generated via the change of the flux tube connection and do not require parallel electric fields

Diurnal Immune Cell Migration Patterns Characterized in the Spaceflight Environment

Daily diurnal immune rhythm shapes biological pathways of organisms and closely aligns with optimizing energy usage in response to environmental light-dark cycles. Immune mobilization depends on diurnal signals to regulate immunity. In spaceflight, disrupted circadian rhythms and immune systems are noted. However, crosstalk between these systems has not been fully characterized. To fill this knowledge gap, we utilized a ground-based model of spaceflight to phenotype diurnal immunity in mice. For this, 24-week-old male and female mice were exposed to a combination of single-housed, acute 15cGy 5-ion GCRsim irradiation and continuous hindlimb unloading for 2 weeks on a light:dark [12hr:12hr] cycle throughout. Blood was collected at 24 hours and 2 weeks post irradiation and flow cytometrically profiled. Additionally, ribo-depleted, bulk RNA sequencing characterized unique, diurnal and sex-specific biosignatures. This work expands our understanding of diurnal immunity which is important to consider for personalized medicine directives for astronauts. This work was supported in part by the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Human Factors Behavioral Performance Element Grant 18 18FLAG 2 0028 to AER and Embry-Riddle Start-up grant to Dr. Amber Paul

Probing the Multiplicity of Dusty Wolf-Rayet Stars: The Orbit of WR70

Wolf-Rayet stars are a late stage of evolution for massive stars that have high mass-loss rates and have also lost their outer hydrogen shell. While some stars have dust surrounding them, which forms in cold and dense conditions, these same conditions do not apply to WRs. From this, I am working to understand how dusty WRs move in comparison to other systems, and if that has any impact on their dust production. In an effort to create an orbit for a lesser-studied WR star, archival data that was taken between 1999 and 2012 was reduced using Python, and was then used to begin piecing together the orbit of WR70. Once this data has been completely reduced and compiled, data from CTIO will be gathered, and reduced in a similar manner to try and fill in some gaps in the orbit that are present from the archival data. Once both of these are completed, the radial velocity of the system will be analyzed to understand how the system moves at different points in the orbit. Upon completion of this analysis, the first-ever orbit for WR70 will have been created

The Challenges of Pilot Language Training for Effective Aeronautical Communications in Multicultural Contexts

This paper discusses the main elements that account for effective aeronautical communication in multicultural contexts and identifies the approaches that can offer support to these elements. Most exchanges are performed by people from different linguacultural backgrounds and, although Aviation English is the language to be used in operations, communication dynamics are supposed to require skills that go beyond language proficiency. Data were collected from a questionnaire answered by experienced pilots flying in international airspace and results were analyzed both from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. The main findings show some of the challenges faced by pilots who are non-native speakers of English regarding elements that should be observed in training practices

Tracking Bed Bug Movement in the Presence of CO2 using Computer Vision

Modern aerospace systems need a new approach for swarm consensus that is distributed, operates with local knowledge, and uses simple agents. The overarching goal of our research was to advance our understanding of bed bug behavior and use this understanding to improve performance of aerospace swarms. The first step is to understand individual bed bug response to stimuli (CO2, heat, light) and individual neural characteristics, before considering group dynamics. The objective of this research was to establish a collaboration between biologists and engineers at ERAU to design and implement a test platform to enable new data collection for individual bed bug movement. This collaboration began by examining individual bed bug response to CO2 concentration. Our central hypothesis is that if we record bed bug response to CO2 exposure, then we will be able to improve our understanding of collective decision making because the bed bugs coordinate their response to environmental conditions

Harnessing Wearable Sensors: A Study of Stress Reduction through Meditation

Modern technology significantly contributes to the stress experienced by individuals worldwide. Meditation, a widely practiced technique with diverse applications, has long been utilized for stress reduction. In John L. Mason\u27s Guide to Stress Reduction, an elevated pulse rate is identified as a key characteristic of the stress response. This research aims to investigate the influence of meditation on an individual\u27s pulse rate and in turn their stress levels. To achieve this goal, a biometric sensing glove is in development to collect pulse data, with completion anticipated by December 2023. Official data collection will begin once the glove is finalized, with multiple test samples gathered during development. Although data collection is pending due to ongoing device development, significant progress has been made, including 3D printing, circuit schematic design, Arduino and Python code implementation, and circuit prototype testing. This study aligns with recent trends in researching the physiological effects of both Eastern and Western meditation practices. It contributes to the broader field by advancing the development of devices aimed at assisting users with stress reduction and practicing mindfulness. This investigation represents a crucial step towards a more mindful and stress-resilient society