Topics in Asian American Philanthropy and Voluntarism

This document was part of the Multicultural Philanthropy Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. A series of fourteen guides examine the ways in which various gender, ethnic, cultural, religious and racial groups use their gifts of time, money, and talent. They reflect the ways giving and voluntarism are embedded in American life and challenge the notion that philanthropy is the exclusive province of elites. The guides include discussion topics, research questions, and literature overviews with annotated bibliographies. They were developed both to integrate the study of philanthropy into the curricula at colleges and universities, and to provide a tool to nonprofit professionals in the area of development and fundraising. Each volume provides background information on a selected community that will help practitioners work effectively with these groups. The guide offers a broad overview of the scope and variety of Asian American philanthropy and voluntarism, including information on the history and practices of Asian Americans in creating community voluntary structures. It places particular emphasis on both the informal, but pervasive practices of giving time, energy talent and resources within the Asian American community as well as the conditions necessary to have Asian Americans engage in mainstream giving. Designed primarily for professionals working with Asian American nonprofit organizations, the guide may also prove useful to those who wish to increase the participation of Asian Americans in their organizations or civic activities. The guide is designed to inculcate an appreciation of the persistence of community building within the Asian American community and that as a result of this appreciation more practitioners and community leaders will embrace Asian Americans in broader community and civic engagements

Greenbin

Greenbin is an iteration of a larger project to implement a zero-waste container tracking system for use in Cal Poly’s dining facilities. The system utilizes a database system as well as passive RFID technologies to track the checking-in and checking-out of plastic reusable food containers. These plastic food containers can be checked out by campus dining patrons, and returned autonomously to collection bins that contain these scanners, allowing the containers to be recollected, re-accounted for, and reused

The Impact Of Attitudes Toward Science And Core Self-Evaluation On Science Achievement And Career Outcomes: A Trajectory-Based Approach

A talented, innovative workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a critical component of sustained economic growth and global competitiveness. The development of this workforce is a primary concern among policymakers, industry leaders, and academics. Although many students express an interest in STEM in secondary school, many of them eventually choose not to pursue a degree or career in a STEM field. This trend has been linked to inadequate achievement, but also to lack of confidence, inconsistent interest, and shifting motivation. It is important that we understand the development of precollege socialcognitive factors affecting persistence to help identify whether some trajectories might have more desirable outcomes than others, and points at which intervention efforts might best be targeted. Growth mixture modeling was used in the current study to uncover unobserved developmental subgroups of students’ attitudes toward science and positive core self-concept through their middle and high school years. Three distinct subgroups of change patterns were found for each of mastery motivation, attitudes toward science utility, and science self-concept. Science Self-Concept subgroups demonstrated significant and reasonably distinct associations with relevant science achievement, postsecondary, and career outcomes, where the results for Mastery Motivation and Science Utility subgroups were mixed. Science Utility and Science Self-Concept subgroups of developmental trajectories both exhibited plausible and appropriate associations with parent and demographic factors as well as initial student, parent, and teacher expectations about college and career

Philanthropy in a Changing Society: Achieving Effectiveness Through Diversity

Analyzes diversity programs funded by foundations since the early 1990s, both in personnel and in giving, with a focus on racial/ethnic diversity. Includes a review of progress within foundations, a summary of programs and tools, and recommendations

Educating English Language Learners: Grantmaking Strategies For Closing America's Other Achievement Gap

This study draws upon two sources of data: an online survey and telephone interviews. In spring 2012, GFE selected 138 grantmaking organizations to participate in an online survey. The sample was composed primarily of GFE members who had indicated in GFE's 2010 and 2011 benchmarking surveys that they made grants to English learners or immigrants, but it was supplemented with funders identified as significant investors in English learners by Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Fifty-seven grantmakers completed responses to the survey, representing diverse grantmaking entities including family foundations, private foundations, community foundations and corporate funders. Researchers supplemented the survey by conducting in-depth phone interviews with 24 survey respondents selected to represent a range of foundation sizes, organization types, geographic regions and ELL funding priorities. The study also convened an Advisory Committee comprising GFE members who are experienced funders of English learners. The advisory committee offered advice on research design, interpretation of research findings, and supplemental resources (listed in report appendix)

Ambient Positional Instability Among Illinois Teachers, AY 2007-2012: A Briefing

This briefing concerns two measures of Ambient Positional Instability (API) among teachers in the state of Illinois: cohort retention and churn. The teacher population includes full time public school teachers in the base year of AY2007-2008 and who were followed longitudinally through AY2011-2012. The state, district, and school level cohort retention for elementary, middle and high school teachers over the five years are provided here, as are the cohort retention rates in the five largest school districts in Illinois. Population churn rates, which include both leavers and newcomers to the Illinois system, are reported within the state over the years covered. A rationale for the work is that high instability and regional differences in the instability rates can have serious implications for designing school level interventions, especially for those designed to be implemented over the course of multiple years, and for controlled trials on such interventions. Challenges and techniques used to mitigate problems encountered using publicly available datasets are also discussed

Program Evaluation Policy, Practice, and the Use of Results

This scholarly commentary addresses the basic questions that underlie program evaluation policy and practice in education, as well as the conditions that must be met for the evaluation evidence to be used. The evaluation questions concern evidence on the nature and severity of problems, the programs deployed to address the issues, the programs’ relative effects and cost-effectiveness, and the accumulation of evidence. The basic conditions for the use of evidence include potential users’ awareness of the evidence, their understanding of it, as well as their capacity and incentives for its use. Examples are drawn from studies conducted in the United States and other countries, focusing on evaluation methods that address the questions above

Silicon nitride and silica quarter-wave stacks for low-thermal-noise mirror coatings

This study investigates a multilayer high reflector with new coating materials for next-generation laser interferometer gravitational wave detectors operated at cryogenic temperatures. We use the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method to deposit amorphous silicon nitride and silica quarter-wave high-reflector stacks and studied the properties pertinent to the coating thermal noise. Room- and cryogenic-temperature mechanical loss angles of the silicon nitride and silica quarter-wave bilayers are measured using the cantilever ring-down method. We show, for the first time, that the bulk and shear loss angles of the coatings can be obtained from the cantilever ring-down measurement, and we use the bulk and shear losses to calculate the coating thermal noise of silicon nitride and silica high-reflector coatings. The mechanical loss angle of the silicon nitride and silica bilayer is dispersive with a linear weakly positive frequency dependence, and, hence, the coating thermal noise of the high reflectors show a weakly positive frequency dependence in addition to the normal 1/ vf dependence. The coating thermal noise of the silicon nitride and silica high-reflector stack is compared to the lower limit of the coating thermal noise of the end test mirrors of ET-LF, KAGRA, LIGO Voyager, and the directly measured coating thermal noise of the current coatings of Advanced LIGO. The optical absorption of the silicon nitride and silica high reflector at 1550 nm is 45.9 ppm. Using a multimaterial system composed of seven pairs of ion-beam-sputter deposited Ti∶Ta2O5 and silica and nine pairs of silicon nitride and silica on a silicon substrate, the optical absorption can be reduced to 2 ppm, which meets the specification of LIGO Voyager

Compatible Solute Binding to an Archaeal Inositol Monophosphatase

Thesis advisor: Mary F. RobertsCrystallization studies in presence of organic osmolytes were conducted to better understand the specific mechanism of compatible solute binding to the inositol monophosphatase of Archaeoglobus fulgidus. The synthesis of a-diglycerol phosphate, one of the natural osmolytes of A. fulgidus, was also completed for kinetic testing of its I-1-Pase thermoprotective properties and for crystallization trials.Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2011.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry

Philanthropy in Communities of Color - Traditions and Challenges

This report is a collection of research and essays on the issue of philanthropy in communities of color.  They are intended to intrigue, raise questions, catalyze new behaviors, and inspire further research on the topic.