Rhetoric vs Reality: Public Opinion on Immigration in the United States

The United States has a rich and interesting history of immigration. The country itself was created by waves of immigrants who came from across the globe. Although immigration has always existed in the U.S., the number of immigrants coming to the United States has increased during the 21st century, and as a result, a controversial debate surrounding the consequences of immigration has emerged. In this paper I examine how Americans view the debate on immigration, specifically focusing on what affects public opinion on this topic. I find that shifts in public opinion do not reflect changes in immigration patterns but rather are influenced by major events portrayed in the media such as security threats, national elections, the status of the economy, etc. Immigration is an essential part of the culture and character of the United States which is why it is important to understand how Americans view and react to this topic

Investigating the Transferability of Landslide Hazard Assessments

Landslides have the potential to cause substantial loss of life and damage to infrastructure. To minimize the damage incurred, landslide hazard assessments are conducted to determine areas of potential mass movements. The majority of advancements in landslide hazard assessment are implemented in a narrow set of circumstances, and their transferability to other regions is largely untested. This study follows the methodology of Kritikos et al. (2015) who investigated the transferability of co-seismic landslide relationships from well-studied regions to regions without accurate landslide locations. The results from Kritikos et al. (2015) provide evidence that statistical relationships formed from training data in multiple regions can accurately predict the occurrence of co-seismic landslides in regions that were not used in training. This study investigates whether these results can be generalized to shallow landslides that were not caused by seismic activity. We focus on three diverse regions in Utah, Washington, and the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Logistic regression (LR) and frequency ratio (FR) methods were used to determine relationships between landslide occurrence and DEM (digital elevation model)-derived contributing factors. Models will be created using 70% of the data for each individual region, each pairwise combination of regions, and the combination of all three regions. Relative operating characteristic (ROC) curves will be used to assess the efficacy of the models [3]. The ROC curve is defined as the true-positive proportion versus the false positive proportion [3]. For landslide hazard assessments, areas under this curve (AUROC) from 1-0.9 are considered excellent, 0.8-0.9 are considered very good, and 0.7-0.8 are good [1]. Preliminary studies using the contributing factors of elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, and topographic position index derived from a 30-meter DEM show promising results. Validation AUROCs were found to be greater than 0.7 for LR and FR in the Utah region, Washington region, Italian region, and the combined Utah & Washington region. If models created using data from multiple regions can be used to predict landslide occurrence in dissimilar regions, it would allow hazard scientists to conduct studies in places without accurate landslide catalogs. Only using factors derived from a 30-m resolution DEM, which is globally available, also increases the importance of this study. Many communities with high landslide risk do not have resources to employ methods that require high levels of expertise and high-resolution data. Although this study has the potential to oversimplify a very complicated system, it can be used as a first-order approach in regions that lack data and resources. [1] Abedi Gheshlaghi, H., & Feizizadeh, B. (2017). An integrated approach of analytical network process and fuzzy based spatial decision making systems applied to landslide risk mapping. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 133, 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.05.007 [2] Kritikos, T., Robinson, T. R., & Davie, T. R. H. (2015). Regional coseismic landslide hazard assessment without historical landslide inventories: A new approach. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 120, 711–729. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003224 [3] Swets, J. A. (1988). Measuring the Accuracy of Diagnostic Systems. Science, 240(4857), 1285–1293

A report on an Arts Administration internship with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, summer 2000

A one-semester internship with an arts organization is required of all graduate students to complete their degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans. The student must then submit a detailed internship report to his/her Graduate Committee in order to be approved for graduation. This student has an interest in visual arts, with the goal of a career in the museum field. Seeking to gain further museum experience, I pursued and was accepted into a summer 2000 internship program at one of our nation\u27s finest art museums. The report provides the reader an overview of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its External Affairs department. It also includes an explanation of my duties and experiences as ART 2000 project coordinator June through August 2000. Finally, the report details my short and long term contributions to the museum

A report on an Arts Administration internship with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, summer 2000

A one-semester internship with an arts organization is required of all graduate students to complete their degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans. The student must then submit a detailed internship report to his/her Graduate Committee in order to be approved for graduation. This student has an interest in visual arts, with the goal of a career in the museum field. Seeking to gain further museum experience, I pursued and was accepted into a summer 2000 internship program at one of our nation\u27s finest art museums. The report provides the reader an overview of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its External Affairs department. It also includes an explanation of my duties and experiences as ART 2000 project coordinator June through August 2000. Finally, the report details my short and long term contributions to the museum

Population, Greenspace, and Development:Conversion Patterns in the Great Lakes Region

In this brief, authors Mark Ducey, Kenneth Johnson, Ethan Belair, and Barbara Cook combine demographic, land-cover, and other spatial data to estimate the incidence and extent of conversion from greenspace (forestland, shrublands, and grasslands) to development in the Great Lakes states. They report that greenspace conversions to developed land are most common in areas where greenspace is already limited. Population density strongly influences the conversion of greenspace to development. Conversions are most likely to occur on the urban periphery and in high-amenity rural areas. This research contributes to a better understanding of the linkages between demographic and land-cover change and provides facts that can inform policy aimed at balancing development and greenspace conservation

Development of regional landslide susceptibility models: a first step towards model transferability

Landslides are a globally pervasive problem with the potential to cause significant fatalities and economic losses. Although landslides are widespread, many at-risk regions may not have the high-quality data or resources used in most landslide susceptibility analyses. This study aims to develop regional susceptibility relationships that are versatile and use publicly available data and open-sourced software. Logistic Regression and Frequency Ratio susceptibility relationships were developed in 23 regions in Washington, Utah, North Carolina, and Kentucky, with a region referring to a unique area and data combination. Regions were diverse in their geology, morphology, climate, and nature and quality of their landslide data. The transferability of select models to regions uninvolved in model development was also tested. The transferred models were trained using data from a single region (single-region cross-validation) or a combination of regions (multi-region cross-validation). Potential landslide contributing factors were all derived from a globally available digital surface model while landslide inventories were publicly available from state geological surveys. The contributing factors considered were elevation, slope, aspect, planform curvature, profile curvature, and topographic position index. Models developed using high-quality landslide data delineating scarps, flanks, and individual slope movements performed very well (AUC 0.764 - 0.895; AUC = area under relative operating characteristics curve). Models developed using landslide data dominated by deposits performed less well, but at or near an acceptable level (AUC 0.67 – 0.81). Models developed using older, lower quality landslide data did not perform at an acceptable level (AUC 0.63 – 0.64). The results of testing model transferability had acceptable results for some but not all regions (AUC 0.563 - 0.844). This study is a promising first step in developing generalized landslide susceptibility relationships that can be used in areas that share similar regional scale attributes

Forests in Flux: The Effects of Demographic Change on Forest Cover in New England and New York

This brief contributes to a better understanding of the linkages between demographic and forest cover change so as to inform policy efforts aimed at maintaining existing forested areas in and around sprawling urban centers. Authors Mark Ducey, Kenneth Johnson, Ethan Belair, and Miranda Mockrin report that forest cover has declined throughout New England and New York over the last decade. In rural areas, forest loss is primarily due to commercial timber harvesting and represents a temporary change. Conversely, forest cover decline in urban areas is usually the result of development and is likely to be permanent. Forest cover change is strongly linked to demographic variables throughout this region. Forest cover loss is most pronounced along the urban fringe, where population growth is greatest. Amenity-rich rural areas are also experiencing high rates of population growth and regionally-high rates of forest cover loss. However, the causes of forest cover change in these areas are less certain. Forest cover change has the potential to impact ecosystem services important to both local residents and the larger region

Boleto y Entrada: A Roundtrip Ticket to a Year Abroad

A presentation to illustrate my work with the Global Leaders of Gettysburg College (GLGC) program at Gettysburg College