Children of Children: The Perverse Cycle of Poverty in African-American Society

This paper won a second place writing flag award in the critical/persuasive category. It was written for Matt Cohen's E 350M class, "Twisted Literature".Cohen, MattUndergraduate Studie

The Role of Community in Meaning Making: Storytelling in Expressive Arts Therapy With Narrative and Traumatic Memory in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

This literature review examines the concept of body as home in terms of privilege versus human right. This thesis is a literature review examining the repercussions of the traumatized mind, body, nervous system, memory, and soul. This thesis discusses the literature in five sections, and through them, the urgency of community, of healing relationally is strengthened and suggested for future research and treatment interventions. This capstone thesis discusses the relationship between narrative and traumatic memory in expressive arts therapy and the role of storytelling in making meaning relationally. Meaning-making reorients us to our traumatic memories to reframe them in a more integrated way into our explicit memory with more ease and comprehension, thus enabling us to find ourselves in community once again. In my research, I sought information that brought to the forefront the tension in holding the dichotomy between community and isolation, with the reality in mind that being traumatized makes it excruciating, if not intolerable, to exist communally. Through relationship, the polarizing tensions of trauma and community are alleviated when we seek to make meaning in our lives as a way of getting from one place to another within ourselves. The work explained in this thesis is humanistic and expressive and honors what it took to survive. This literature review was written to present how, through storytelling in expressive arts therapy in community, a survivor can reclaim their body as their own and inhabit it wholly after trauma pervades it

Discovery of new mutually orthogonal bioorthogonal cycloaddition pairs through computational screening.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experiments in tandem led to discoveries of new reactivities and selectivities involving bioorthogonal sydnone cycloadditions. Dibenzocyclooctyne derivatives (DIBAC and BARAC) were identified to be especially reactive dipolarophiles, which undergo the (3+2) cycloadditions with N-phenyl sydnone with the rate constant of up to 1.46 M-1 s-1. Most signifcantly, the sydnone-dibenzocyclooctyne and norbornene-tetrazine cycloadditions were predicted to be mutually orthogonal. This was validated experimentally and used for highly selective fluorescence labeling of two proteins simultaneously

School Psychologists’ Experience of Identifying Students With Specific Learning Disabilities In Urban Schools

The largest group of students receiving special education services in the United States qualify under the category of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) (Cottrell & Barrett, 2015). The most recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) was the first time that federal special education law substantially changed the way in which Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) could identify students as having SLDs. Because of their specialized training, school psychologists are considered to be the disability identification expert of the team (NASP, 2010a). This instrumental case study investigated school psychologists’ experience of identifying SLDs in urban schools and how they make sense of the process. This study was conducted with school psychologists who have at least five years of experience and currently work in an urban school in Cuyahoga County. School psychologists from all ten school districts that are designated as urban by ODE were solicited for participation. Seven school psychologists from six districts consented to participate in this study. Participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire and two semi-structured interviews, answering interview questions to address the following primary research questions: (1) What resources and existing knowledge do school psychologists draw on in the processes of SLD identification; and (2) What challenges occur for them in the SLD identification process. Participants identified themes regarding resources and existing knowledge that they use during the identification process as well as challenges related to their training, professional development, team dynamics, school and community iv resources, the legal definition of SLD, inconsistent application of policy, and SLD guidance and policy during this study. These findings highlighted the need for changes to university-level educator training programs, professional development, and community outreach and inclusion, as well as the need to recommit to students’ right to a Free Appropriate Public Education

Building Capacity and Sustaining An All-Girls Public School

The purpose of this study was to investigate how an all-girls' urban public school has built capacity and sustained itself. Through this study, the researcher interviewed faculty and staff in their natural setting to identify the capacity building strategies the school has developed and used to sustain itself as a reform model. By presenting the data in narrative form, the researcher exposes the reader to a culture and climate that she experienced during her visit to the school.By analyzing the data collected, the researcher found that a nurturing environment built on collaboration, building relationships and high expectations by a dedicated faculty are necessary components to building capacity at an all-girls' public school. These characteristics have sustained this school for more than a decade, and it has become a standard that other schools and districts attempt to replicate