Fostering Global Citizens: Using Technology to Improve Intercultural Competence Among Study Abroad Students

The UMontana app is one of the current marketing strategies that the University of Montana is using to make information more easily accessible to students. Our team designed a tile for the UMontana app that would provide specific local information about UM’s twenty-one partner universities. This information will be used to help UM and international students better prepare for their study abroad experiences at these host universities. Our research shows that students studying abroad struggle to gain intercultural competence during their experience abroad because of factors like culture shock, language barriers, or sociocultural differences. The goal of this project is to increase the intercultural competence of UM students and international students coming to study at UM so that students can spend less time adjusting to their host university, and more time enjoying their study abroad experience and becoming competent global citizens. This app tile will answer practical questions like Where can I find feminine hygiene products? and What is the best bank to use in my host city? but also culturally specific questions like What are some important social customs? and What are the attitudes towards gender identity? The app is populated with survey information gathered from students that have already completed their study abroad experiences, but the page is now self-sustaining with a social media platform embedded in the tile. As students complete their experiences abroad, they can add their input into the tile, filling in the gaps from another student’s answers, and even posting pictures of their trip. Eventually, the project will expand to encompass more than the partner universities. With the help of the Global Engagement and Information Technology offices, this project became a reality

Mismatch Repair Proteins Initiate Epigenetic Alterations during Inflammation-Driven Tumorigenesis

Aberrant silencing of genes by DNA methylation contributes to cancer, yet how this process is initiated remains unclear. Using a murine model of inflammation-induced tumorigenesis, we tested the hypothesis that inflammation promotes recruitment of epigenetic proteins to chromatin, initiating methylation and gene silencing in tumors. Compared with normal epithelium and noninflammation-induced tumors, inflammation-induced tumors gained DNA methylation at CpG islands, some of which are associated with putative tumor suppressor genes. Hypermethylated genes exhibited enrichment of repressive chromatin marks and reduced expression prior to tumorigenesis, at a time point coinciding with peak levels of inflammation-associated DNA damage. Loss of MutS homolog 2 (MSH2), a mismatch repair (MMR) protein, abrogated early inflammation-induced epigenetic alterations and DNA hypermethylation alterations observed in inflammation-induced tumors. These results indicate that early epigenetic alterations initiated by inflammation and MMR proteins lead to gene silencing during tumorigenesis, revealing a novel mechanism of epigenetic alterations in inflammation-driven cancer. Understanding such mechanisms will inform development of pharmacotherapies to reduce carcinogenesis

Dynamic covalent polymers based upon carbene dimerization

Thermally-reversible covalent polymers featuring dynamic carbon - carbon double bonds and tunable molecular weights were prepared from difunctional carbenes; addition of transition metal complexes to these materials afforded the respective main-chain organometallic polymers

Novel N-heterocyclic carbene architectures for use in carbene based polymers and redox switchable catalysis

textThe central focus of this dissertation pertains to the synthesis and study of novel N-Heterocyclic carbene architectures. This pursuit has led to advances in carbine structure and bonding, and application of NHCs in materials chemistry in the role of monomer and catalystChemistr

Quinone-annulated N-heterocyclic carbene-transition-metal complexes: Observation of pi-backbonding using FT-IR spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry

A new N-heterocyclic carbene architecture comprising a 1,4-naphthoquinone annulated to 1,3-dimesitylimidazolylidene (NpQ???NHC) was synthesized in two high yielding steps from commercially available starting materials. The free NpQ???NHC was characterized (solution and solid-state) and was used to synthesize various Rh and Ag complexes that ranged in ??-electron density. Enabled by the quinone moiety, the ??-systems of these complexes were analyzed using infrared spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. In contrast to previous reports, ??-backbonding was found to be non-negligible and was directly influenced by the metal's electronic character

Oxidation of poly(enetetramine)s: a new strategy for the synthesis of conjugated polyelectrolytes

Chemical oxidation of poly(enetetramine)s was demonstrated as a new synthetic route to prepare conjugated polyelectrolytes

Synthesis and Study of 5,5 '-Bibenzimidazolylidenes and Their Bimetallic Complexes

A new, high-yielding synthesis of 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl was developed, facilitating access to a new family of fluorescent 5,5'-bibenzimidazolium salts bearing phenyl or bulky tertiary alkyl N-substituents. Deprotonation of these salts afforded the respective 5,5'-bibenzimidazolylidenes in excellent isolated yields (>= 86 %), which were characterized in the solid state and solution. Treatment of these ditopic ligands with [Rh(COD)Cl](2). (COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) afforded bimetallic complexes composed of two Rh atoms connected through a bis(carbene) linker. Electrochemical analyses of these complexes revealed single, quasi-reversible oxidations at E-1/2 = +0.54 to +0.59 V (vs. SCE) arising from the Rh-I/II redox couples. A bimetallic Rh carbonyl complex bearing a 5,5'-bibenzimidazolylidene was also synthesized and found to exhibit v(CO) signals similar to a monotopic analogue. Collectively, these results suggested that the two metal centers in the aforementioned bimetallic complexes were electronically decoupled. These observations were supported by the crystal structures of one of the 5,5'-bibenzimidazolium salts and its bis(carbene) derivative, which revealed relatively large dihedral angles of 51.2 degrees and 47.8 degrees, respectively, between the two aryl systems