2017 Minnesota Undergraduate Scholars Posters at St. Paul Abstract Booklet

Abstract booklet from the fourth Minnesota Undergraduate Scholars Posters at St. Paul event. The multi-disciplinary poster presentation was held on March 2, 2017 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the State Capitol rotunda. Participating campuses included: Bemidji State University, Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, Rochester Community and Technical College, Southwest Minnesota State University, St. Cloud State University, and Winona State University

Center for Research on Sustainable Forests 2022 Annual Report

The Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF) entered its 16th year of existence this year and has been under my leadership since 2016. We are very excited to get back to almost business as usual and resume in-person events, particularly our very successful and popular Forest Climate Change Initiative’s Science & Practice field tour series done in partnership with the Forest Stewardship Guild. These partnerships and events have greatly expanded the recognition and visibility of CRSF endeavors. We are excited to share our accomplishments from the past year in this report and to begin planning for the coming year

Views of teachers and students about EMI at a Brazilian federal university: implications for language policy

Internationalization is listed as one of the main goals of the Federal University of Santa Maria in its Institutional Development Plan for the period of 2016-2026, and the use of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is pointed out in the document as one of the strategies to achieve this goal. Although it is unofficially known in the institution that graduate classes in some areas are already taught in English, there is no systematic information about these experiences nor an official policy about EMI. The present work attempts to contribute to fill this gap as it reports the main results of an online survey about interests, perspectives and needs in relation to EMI at the university. The survey included professors and students and the data were mainly analyzed quantitatively, in order to establish general patterns within each group and comparisons across groups. The results showed that both professors and students express interest in engaging in EMI classes, but that policy regulation and language support programs are seen as necessary measures to implement it

Student Success: A Literature Review of Faculty to Student Mentoring

This review summarizes the literature on university faculty to student mentoring programs. There has been a proliferation of mentoring programs because of the perceived benefit to student persistence and retention. While mentoring programs have become common, the research on these programs has not kept pace. Shortcomings identified thirty years ago such as lack of theoretical guidance, lack of operational definition of mentoring, and poor design continue to plague mentoring research. Recommendations to address these shortcomings and improve internal and external validity are examined. As universities continue to have increasingly constrained resources, and pressure to demonstrate strategies to help students be successful, evidence-based research will be increasingly desired. If shortcomings in mentoring research can be addressed, mentoring programs hold the potential to be part of a university’s strategic plan to help students be successful

1968-1969 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1003/thumbnail.jp

Impact Of Teaching Practices And Communication Climates On Participation In Computer Science Education

One way to understand teaching is to view it as a people process rather than a presentation of knowledge. It follows that the role of an educator often extends beyond the primary subject matter and into the realm of classroom management. With this in mind, our research aimed to capture the various teaching practices, participation patterns, and communication climates that occur in virtual computer science classrooms. We sought to answer the following research questions related to virtual computer science classrooms at our institution: Who participates in virtual computer science classrooms, and is participation proportional to student demographics? Is there any correlation between the use of teaching best practices and student participation? Is there any correlation between communication climate and student participation? To answer these questions, we designed and conducted a mixed-method content analysis study on 14 instructor-provided synchronous video lectures. We created a rubric composed of teaching best practices and supportive and defensive communication behaviors. The resulting design employed ethnographic content analysis (ECA) and quantitative content analysis (QCA) methodologies to produce contextually relevant knowledge. Correlational analysis was conducted using Kendall\u27s tau-b correlational algorithm. Our findings suggest female participation was not proportional to student demographics, and no significant correlations between teaching practices and participation patterns were found. However, several significant correlations between communication climate and participation patterns were identified. Specifically, increased communication behaviors displaying equality were positively correlated with classroom dialogue count, unique female participants, female participation, and female first responses

The Ecology Of Host-Seeking Mosquitoes Within The Red River Valley Of Central North Dakota

Host-seeking mosquitoes are taxing for people and wildlife alike in the Red River Valley (RRV). During the summer massive numbers of mosquitoes swarm the RRV, yet little is known about the ecology and biology of the mosquito species that inhabit this area. This research will help to fill some of those knowledge gaps by studying the ecology of host seeking mosquitoes in the RRV. Host-seeking mosquitoes were collected using CO2-baited MMXTM traps. Trapping was conducted in two very different rural settings within the RRV. One site, a 40-acre hardwood forest with closed canopy, the other a farmstead consisting of open agricultural fields interspersed with forested wind-rows. Trapping was conducted 2-3 times weekly throughout the mosquito season (May through August). Each night\u27s catch was sorted, counted and identified to species. During sorting, all engorged and partially engorged mosquitoes were removed, identified to species and stored at -80°C. DNA was extracted from individual mosquito blood meals and analyzed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays multiple times to determine the host feeding preferences and parasitic infection status of the host. The first round of PCR assays determined the host species from which the blood originated (e.g., deer, dog, human, etc.). Analyzing the host composition of many mosquito blood meals produced information on the preference of host species that were most commonly fed upon by the various mosquito species within their natural environment. The following rounds of PCR assays examined mosquito blood meals for the presence of blood-borne pathogens (e.g., filarial nematodes, avian malaria, etc.). This process, known as xenomonitoring, uses mosquitoes as a sampling tool to acquire blood samples from wildlife without having direct contact with the vertebrate host. Thus, xenomonitoring is an indirect way of estimating the prevalence of infection among vertebrate populations. Mosquito counts from the forest and farm sites along with Grand Forks “Skeeter Meter” counts from the years of 2002-2010 were used to construct predictive models to understand the effects of climate on mosquito population dynamics and abundance throughout the summer. Generalized linear models are used to determine how climate variables play roles on everyday mosquito activity, while cross-correlation maps were used to determine correlation values of preceding weather variables to trap counts. This allowed for the determination of which climate variables can be used to predict how mosquito populations will fluctuate in the future. This research provides a critical foundation by describing the species composition of mosquitoes that inhabit two unique rural study sites within the RRV. Species composition is crucial to the initial component of mosquito-borne vector transmission of diseases, presence of mosquito vectors. Building from the composition, this study provides information describing the population trends of multiple mosquito populations throughout the summers of 2009-2011 at these two rural sites. Because mosquito population trends differed between sites, several meteorological variables were identified as affectors of mosquito abundance and activity. By understanding how these meteorological factors affect mosquito populations, vital data is provided for the future design of predictive models that will allow for focused mosquito control, but also lend information in potential disease risk-assessment map production. To further build on the potential for zoonotic and enzootic pathogen transmission, it is important to understand the feeding habits of local mosquito species. These feeding preferences determine which hosts are more commonly fed upon by given mosquito species and offer a background to determine which vector transmitted diseases are currently present in the RRV as well as potential diseases, that upon introduction to the region, which could be transmitted within the valley

8th Annual Research Week- Event Proceedings

8th Annual Research Wee