California State University (CSU): Open Journal Systems
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Phytoplankton Monitoring of Discovery Lake (San Marcos, California) in 2022:: CSUSM Undergraduate Student Project
No full textDiscovery Lake is a small shallow man-made recreational lake located in the suburbs of the City of San Marcos and used as field sampling station for the CSUSM undergraduate course Biol 387L Aquatic Ecology Laboratory since 2011. We studied the phytoplankton dynamics of Discovery Lake from March to November 2022 as a community engagement project mastering our new field and lab research skills developed during the Spring 2022 class of Biol 387L. Our study provides the first data on phytoplankton composition and dynamics of Discovery Lake. Dinoflagelatte species belonging to Ceratium are the most characteristic for the lake phytoplankton and determine the brownish color of the lake water. They grow continuously since the beginning of phytoplankton monitoring in 2011, probably favored by the increased water salinity (492-1204 ppm in 2022). Ceratium forms extensive and prolonged blooms in the fall months, recently continuing until late November in 2022. In the summer months (July and August), filamentous N2-fixing cyanobacteria belonging to Dolichospermum and Aphanizomen form dense blooms, co-dominated by the chrysophyte colonial flagellate Dinobryon in 2022. Although summer cyanobacterial blooms are not confirmed to be toxic, they deplete the oxygen, sometimes causing fish kills.  
Promoting educational equity among health science students through a project-based learning writing course at a Hispanic Serving Institution : A co-curricular, project-based course uses high-impact practices to teach public health writing skills to students from underserved minority populations. Findings suggest both improved student performance and practice scaffolding the academic help-seeking behaviors that support graduation.
No full textBackground: Overall, high rates of American high school seniors lack writing proficiency (75%) and historically underrepresented minority (URM) populations fare even worse (91% of African American, 89% of Latinx) (U.S. Dept of Education, 2011), which suggests that URM college students enter college with lower writing abilities (Bracco et al., 2021). Co-curricular writing instruction could help eliminate writing skill disparities. The Health Science Intensive Writing Workshop (HSIWW) aimed to increase students’ perceived confidence in their writing abilities, encourage and increase academic help-seeking behaviors and networking skills.
Description of Practice: A project-based learning methodology proved the best fit because of its focus on real-world problems and assessments, and emphasis on collaboration and revisions of personal work.
Outcomes: Eight upper-division health science undergraduate students participated in the 5-day HSIWW. Descriptive statistics indicated increases in perceived ability, confidence in writing abilities, and academic help-seeking behaviors.
Conclusion: To the study team’s knowledge, the HSIWW was unique as a co-curricular, project-based course that used high-impact practices to teach public health writing skills to URM students in higher education. HSIWW’s findings suggest a positive impact on student achievement by improving student performance and scaffolding the academic help-seeking behaviors that help keep students on the path to graduation
Culturally informed Strengths-based Coaching: a novel approach to support the success of underrepresented minority faculty
No full textUnderrepresented Minority (URM) faculty play a crucial role in higher education, and yet they face numerous barriers to success. This paper describes a project that seeks to address these barriers by supporting URM faculty through Strengths-based coaching while also examining how social and cultural identities intersect with individual faculty strengths that are determined by the Clifton Strengths online assessment administered by Gallup, Inc. throughout this yearlong intervention, URM junior faculty were paired with senior faculty coaches to provide one-on-one support. Additionally, all faculty participated in a series of workshops aimed at supporting faculty teaching, research, and service by applying individual Strengths through a lens of social/cultural identity. This project serves as a model for how coaching can be used to address an important facet of dispute resolution that involves URM faculty in higher education.
 
Using Dynamic Active Subspaces to Construct Surrogate Models for Calibrating Tumor Growth Models to Data
Get PDFWhile the use of complex ODE models describing tumor growth and tumor-immune interactions may be desirable for accurately representing the biological mechanisms that govern tumor growth, the high-dimensionality of the parameter space can make it difficult to uniquely identify optimal parameter estimates during model calibration. Construction of a surrogate model that can accurately approximate the quantity of interest with fewer parameters may enable us to fit this alternate model to the data in place of the original ODE system. In this investigation, we consider how active subspaces may be used to construct time-dependent surrogate models with reduced parameter dimension, and analyze the trade-offs in parameter identifiability, model fit error, and computational run-time to provide a roadmap for ensuring an identifiable parameter set during model calibration
Praxis of Grief, Joy, and Healing : The complete issue of In Dialogue/ En Diálago V1 Fall 2023
No full textEducational Equity: Study Abroad for Underrepresented Minority and First-Gen Public Health Students: Racial and ethnic minority students remain under-represented in experiential study abroad – frustrating efforts to address the shortage of diverse public health professionals. One program meets the challenge with an intentionally designed course making a measurable difference for minority and first-gen students, during their time in college and afterward.
No full textFor public health students, global education supports development of core skills towards becoming effective leaders and advocates for health equity. Despite the growing number of undergraduate students participating in experiential study abroad opportunities, there remains a stark educational disparity: racial and ethnic minority students continue to be underrepresented. Less than 20% of Hispanic/Latinx and African American students participate in study abroad (NAFSA, 2022). This situation is especially urgent given the shortage of diverse public health professionals. It is imperative for the educational pipeline to address the structural limitations that hinder access to academic opportunities for diverse and disadvantaged students. To meet the challenge, our institution created a course expressly for underrepresented minorities and first-generation public health students. This article describes the course’s intentional design, implementation, and assessment of long-term outcomes. Findings highlight the impact of this experience for minority and first-gen students as they entered graduate education and the public health workforce. All participants voiced benefits in developing relevant career skills, global citizenship, and personal growth. As public health educators, our focus on health equity must include equitable access to innovative experiences for underserved public health students as fundamental to public health pedagogy
Critical Experiential Education: Re-Imagining Teaching and Learning
No full textUnderstanding, complexifying, and co-generating space for critique, growth, and transformation through experiential education informs and helps re-imagine education in more equitable ways. Through a critical lens, critical experiential education offers the potential to engage students and educators alike in putting what educators re-imagine education to be into practice. A more equitable educational system calls for transforming our world into communities that are more generous, liberatory, kind, engaged, and appreciative of difference. The work of building these communities is the work educators and activists should focus on more now than ever in today\u27s ever-changing and tumultuous world