Using social science in National Park Service climate communications: A case study in the National Capital Region

Since 2012, the National Park Service’s (NPS’s) Urban Ecology Research Learning Alliance (UERLA) and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication have partnered on a collaborative “research-to-practice” internship program that employs undergraduate and graduate-level students to produce interdisciplinary, science-based climate change communication products for parks in the NPS National Capital Region (NCR). Materials created through this program are rooted in social science insights (e.g., trusted sources, social norms, place-based learning), climate science, and the communication needs of participating regional parks. As a result, the end products (e.g. websites, videos, ranger toolkits) produced by this program fulfill many functions: increasing public awareness of climate impacts on park resources, nurturing the connection between people and places, meeting evolving interpretation demands by developing material for a variety of channels, effectively engaging visitors in climate dialogue, and helping parks lead by example by addressing how a changing climate can alter cultural, natural, historical, and recreational resources. The success, adaptability, and longevity of this program have provided NCR parks with a wealth of innovative products that support the park stewardship mission to preserve resources for future generations. Five examples will demonstrate the breadth of work undertaken by interns

What was the impact of faculty learning from and with colleagues? An assessment of faculty professional development program sessions August 2013-February 2014

The professional literature suggests five levels of evaluation for faculty development programs. FPDP resource session participation was tracked through registration and attendance. Following the sessions participants were provided with a link to anonymous online evaluations with six Likert-scale items and three open-ended questions. A brief year-end survey will be sent to all participants in the 2013-14 resource sessions to further assess the systemic impact of the year’s programs

How did we engage our faculty?

A review of how well The Faculty Professional Development Program (FPDP) reached out to campus during the 2014-2015 year. Results show increased campus participation, increased target group participation, launching new initiatives, and continued strong collaboration

"Teaching with fire: (Re) igniting the passion for teaching" An assessment of the 3rd annual teaching day

The NAU Teaching Academy and the staff of the Faculty Professional Development Program convened the Third Annual NAU Teaching Day from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for over 200 per-registered participants. The visiting speaker was Dr. John Pollard, a faculty member at the University of Arizona, who talked about his work on teaching students to think within their discipline (“thinking chemically” in his case). Following his presentation, a series of round table discussions was convened, each focusing on a different topical area related to university teaching

What do part-time geographically dispersed faculty members need for their professional development?

As the landscape of higher education has changed over the past decade, many institutions of higher education find that they are employing an ever increasing number of part-time, temporary faculty members. While many of the part-time temporary faculty members come to the institution with high levels of experience and skills in their disciplinary area, they are often not well grounded in the workings of institutions of higher education or in providing high-quality instruction to the young adult and adult learners who populate the classrooms in higher education. One way institutions of higher education can promote high levels of student success and student achievement is through providing high-quality professional development that equips the faculty member with the tools needed to provide effective instruction and a strong focus on student learning. Yet a review of literature in this area yields few examples of institutions that have analyzed the professional development needs of their part-time temporary faculty and addressed these needs in any depth. As a result, the professional development activities offered by the current faculty professional development programs may not meet their unique needs. This project, a collaborative venture between the Faculty Professional Development program and Extended Campuses undertook a purposive sampling of part-time faculty members in geographically distributed locations in an attempt to identify themes and issues related to providing effective professional development activities. This poster session will provide a summary of the findings of this sampling and plans for subsequent follow up surveys to more accurately understand the range of potential needs of faculty members distributed across and outside the state

Sustainable Municipal Operations: Independence, Oregon

Portland State University, Hatfield School of Government (PSU), and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has formed a partnership to develop Sustainable Municipal Operations Plans that documents sustainability and energy management best practices. The goal of this partnership is to determine how a City/municipality can actively manage energy as a controllable expense by following a predetermined operation protocol. The PSU team developed a framework of best practices for sustainable municipal operations in different categories including facilities, fleet, purchasing, operations and the work environment. After identifying pilot jurisdictions, the team applied these best practices to the current operations of local governments in Oregon with limited capacity to do so independently. A list of criteria was used to select the jurisdictions based on the commitment to sustainability and executive level management support. Independence was selected as a pilot for these reasons following detailed conversations with City administrators and management staff on the issues the team would be investigating. The results of this project are intended to both serve as a foundation for each jurisdiction to move forward with implementing improvements, and also as a starting point in learning new and innovative approaches to sustainable operations in municipal and City governments. The PSU team, compiled of experienced practitioners, worked with Independence initially to provide clarity around the goals and deliverables of the project, solidifying the commitment of the City to provide information and relevant data for the purpose of drafting this report. We visited the City on numerous occasions to understand the current operations, state of facilities, challenges and opportunities for the City and staff. The following report provides an overview of our process working with Independence to collect and gather information, our findings and recommendations for both the immediate and long term, as well as suggested strategies for implementation

Towards deterministic optical quantum computation with coherently driven atomic ensembles

Scalable and efficient quantum computation with photonic qubits requires (i) deterministic sources of single-photons, (ii) giant nonlinearities capable of entangling pairs of photons, and (iii) reliable single-photon detectors. In addition, an optical quantum computer would need a robust reversible photon storage devise. Here we discuss several related techniques, based on the coherent manipulation of atomic ensembles in the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency, that are capable of implementing all of the above prerequisites for deterministic optical quantum computation with single photons.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Lessons learnt from human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in 45 low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVE: To synthesise lessons learnt and determinants of success from human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine demonstration projects and national programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs). METHODS: Interviews were conducted with 56 key informants. A systematic literature review identified 2936 abstracts from five databases; after screening 61 full texts were included. Unpublished literature, including evaluation reports, was solicited from country representatives; 188 documents were received. A data extraction tool and interview topic guide outlining key areas of inquiry were informed by World Health Organization guidelines for new vaccine introduction. Results were synthesised thematically. RESULTS: Data were analysed from 12 national programmes and 66 demonstration projects in 46 countries. Among demonstration projects, 30 were supported by the GARDASIL® Access Program, 20 by Gavi, four by PATH and 12 by other means. School-based vaccine delivery supplemented with health facility-based delivery for out-of-school girls attained high coverage. There were limited data on facility-only strategies and little evaluation of strategies to reach out-of-school girls. Early engagement of teachers as partners in social mobilisation, consent, vaccination day coordination, follow-up of non-completers and adverse events was considered invaluable. Micro-planning using school/ facility registers most effectively enumerated target populations; other estimates proved inaccurate, leading to vaccine under- or over-estimation. Refresher training on adverse events and safe injection procedures was usually necessary. CONCLUSION: Considerable experience in HPV vaccine delivery in LAMICs is available. Lessons are generally consistent across countries and dissemination of these could improve HPV vaccine introduction

Star forming dwarf galaxies

Star forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) have a high gas content and low metallicities, reminiscent of the basic entities in hierarchical galaxy formation scenarios. In the young universe they probably also played a major role in the cosmic reionization. Their abundant presence in the local volume and their youthful character make them ideal objects for detailed studies of the initial stellar mass function (IMF), fundamental star formation processes and its feedback to the interstellar medium. Occasionally we witness SFDGs involved in extreme starbursts, giving rise to strongly elevated production of super star clusters and global superwinds, mechanisms yet to be explored in more detail. SFDGs is the initial state of all dwarf galaxies and the relation to the environment provides us with a key to how different types of dwarf galaxies are emerging. In this review we will put the emphasis on the exotic starburst phase, as it seems less important for present day galaxy evolution but perhaps fundamental in the initial phase of galaxy formation.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, G. Hensler, S. Recchi (eds.). Lisbon, September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres