Student Research Conference

Wetlands provide a numerous ecosystem services such as flood management, sediment capture, wildlife habitat and recreation (Mitsch et al. 2012). Wetlands have been increasingly valued for carbon (C) sequestration and water quality benefits including nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) attenuation (Mitsch et al. 2014). The State of Vermont and non-profit organizations are currently seeking nature-based solutions (Albert et al., 2017) to meet P reductions required by the EPA’s total maximum daily load (TMDL) for Lake Champlain (US EPA, 2016). However, it is unclear whether such systems are net P sources or sinks, and no prior studies in the basin have specifically investigated the relationship between C sequestration and P retention. This connection is likely important because significant amounts of P can accumulate and be retained in soil organic matter. This project sets out to determine if phosphorus in soil organic matter is stable or potentially releasable. Enzyme activity and ratios of C:P can indicate scarcity of nutrients. My research will investigate how hydrologic setting and organic matter relate to the availability and stability of P in restored riparian wetlands by quantifying pools of C and P, along with enzyme activity. The data produced in this project will be used in ongoing efforts in Dr. Eric Roy’s lab to quantify and model P retention in restored riparian wetlands in Vermont

Globalization, Diversity, and the Search for Culturally Relevant Models for Adult Education

This is a book review for Curriculum Development for Adult Learners in the Global Community (Volume II, Teaching and Learning). Victor C.X. Wang (Ed.), 2009. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company

“Contemporary Reactions to War and the Holocaust with a Focus on The Role of the Polish- Language Press in North America from 1926-1945.”

Yad Vashem Magazine argued that more work needed to be done with regard to “how media reports on the Holocaust influenced people’s positions vis-à-vis the Jews during the war.” My research examines the attitude toward Jews prior to and during the Holocaust, and how information on such attitudes was disseminated, thus helping to reveal who knew what? When? Furthermore, in examining the evolution of the Holocaust, the question of who was interpreted as a target for genocide is explored. When considering an event as ‘unprecedented’ as the Holocaust, historians should be asking when information was created, made available, and just importantly how it was interpreted. The perspective of North American Poles, as expressed and interpreted by the Polish-language press, was quite different from ‘mainstream’ society. From Polish-Jewish relations,[1] which were explored quite honestly, to the cause of the Second World War, and subsequently the development of genocidal policy, the Polish press and other contemporary writings had a different perspective on the ‘cause and effects’ of what was happening. The following chapters in this dissertation engage with the origins debate and demonstrate that the Polish foreign-language press[2] covered seminal issues during the inter-war years, the war, and the Holocaust extensively on their front and main story pages, and were extremely responsive, professional, and vocal in their journalism. The Polish-language press in North America presented a unique perspective on unfolding events. The press communicated an interpretation of events to a transnational community; Poles in America were uniquely placed to comment freely on events happening in their motherland. Poland, and Auschwitz in particular, is emblematic of Nazism’s machinery of destruction, and Poles within Europe and America had a distinctive perspective of what was happening and advocated against Nazism and genocide. Contrary to the notion that news regarding genocide was unavailable or unreliable, news from Europe was frequently communicated through the Polish press and demonstrated that the evolution of genocide was in the public domain. American travellers confirmed that the horrific stories being reported in the United States were true and unexaggerated. Because information (in many forms) was readily available during the entire evolution of the Holocaust, the debate of who knew what when followed by the many rationales for American inaction are further debunked in understanding reactions to the genocide. [1]Note: Polish-Jewish relations signify relations between Polish Gentiles and Polish-Jews unless otherwise noted. [2]All translations from Polish to English (quotations, paraphrasing and titles) are my own. Please contact me for original articles written in Polish

The Cultural Contours of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship

Drawing upon the African concept of ubuntu, this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside Cape Town depict the cultural contours of democracy and how the teachers reaffirm and question the dominant Western-oriented democratic narrative. Through ubuntu, defined as the virtue of being human premised upon respect, the Xhosa teachers interrupt the prevailing rights-and-responsibilities discourse to interpose a conception of democracy based on rights, responsibilities, and respect. Society and schools, in their view, fall short in educating young learners for democratic citizenship in South Africa; their insights offer ways for formal schooling to improve upon its democratic mission

Multidimentional Citizenship: Educational Policy for the Twenty-first Century

As we approach the end of this turbulent century and prepare to meet the challenges of the next, the question of what constitutes education for citizenship in various nations appropriate to the demands and needs of a rapidly changing global community is critical in both national and international contexts. The planet and the human family are facing an unprecedented set of challenges, issues and problems including the globalization of the economy, a significant level of deterioration in the quality of the global environment, rapidly changing technologies and the uses of same, and ethical and social issues. How does one respond to these challenges both as a member of a particular nation state as well as a member of the community of nations in a manner that is thoughtful, active, personal and yet with a commitment to the common good? This was the underlying question as we began to explore the concept of citizenship appropriate for life in the early 21st century. The vehicle for doing this was the Citizenship Education Policy Study project (CEPS), an international research network project designed to examine the changing character of citizenship over the next twenty-five years and the subsequent implications of these changes for educational policy across the nine participating nations and beyond

Multidemnsional Citizenship: Education Policy for the Twenty-first Century

As we approach the end of this turbulent century and prepare to meet the challenges of the next, the question of what constitutes education for citizenship in various nations appropriate to the demands and needs of a rapidly changing global community is critical in both national and international contexts. The planet and the human family are facing an unprecedented set of challenges, issues and problems including the globalization of the economy, a significant level of deteriorations in the quality of the global environment, rapidly changing technologies and the uses of the same, and ethical and social issues. How does one respond to these challenges both as a member of a particular nation state as well as a member of the community of nations in a manner that is thoughtful, active, personal and yet with a commitment to the common good? This was the underlying question as we began to explore the concept of citizenship appropriate for life in the early 21st century. The vehicle for doing this was the citizenship Education Policy Study project (CEPS), an international research network project designed to examine the changing character of citizenship over the next twenty-five years and the subsequent implications of these changes for educational policy across the nine participating nations and beyond

Guest Editors’ Introduction to the FIRE Special Issue on “The Place and Future of Comparative Education in Teacher Education”

Guest Editors’ Introduction to the FIRE Special Issue on “The Place and Future of Comparative Education in Teacher Education”

Mechanical forces regulate the interactions of fibronectin and collagen I in extracellular matrix

Despite the crucial role of extracellular matrix (ECM) in directing cell fate in healthy and diseased tissues--particularly in development, wound healing, tissue regeneration and cancer--the mechanisms that direct the assembly and regulate hierarchical architectures of ECM are poorly understood. Collagen I matrix assembly in vivo requires active fibronectin (Fn) fibrillogenesis by cells. Here we exploit Fn-FRET probes as mechanical strain sensors and demonstrate that collagen I fibres preferentially co-localize with more-relaxed Fn fibrils in the ECM of fibroblasts in cell culture. Fibre stretch-assay studies reveal that collagen I's Fn-binding domain is responsible for the mechano-regulated interaction. Furthermore, we show that Fn-collagen interactions are reciprocal: relaxed Fn fibrils act as multivalent templates for collagen assembly, but once assembled, collagen fibres shield Fn fibres from being stretched by cellular traction forces. Thus, in addition to the well-recognized, force-regulated, cell-matrix interactions, forces also tune the interactions between different structural ECM components.233157 - European Research Council; PN2 EY016586 - NEI NIH HH