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Radical-Mediated Degradation of Thiol-Maleimide Hydrogels
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Michael addition between thiol- and maleimide-functionalized molecules is a long-standing approach used for bioconjugation, hydrogel crosslinking, and the functionalization of other advanced materials. While the simplicity of this chemistry enables facile synthesis of hydrogels, network degradation is also desirable in many instances. Here, the susceptibility of thiol–maleimide bonds to radical-mediated degradation is reported. Irreversible degradation in crosslinked materials is demonstrated using photoinitiated and chemically initiated radicals in hydrogels and linear polymers. The extent of degradation is shown to be dependent on initiator concentration. Using a model linear polymer system, the radical-mediated mechanism of degradation is elucidated, in which the thiosuccinimide crosslink is converted to a succinimide and a new thioether formed with an initiator fragment. Using laser stereolithography, high-fidelity spatiotemporal control over degradation in crosslinked gels is demonstrated. Ultimately, this work establishes a platform for controllable, radical-mediated degradation in thiol–maleimide hydrogels, further expanding their versatility as functional materials.
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Asian Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change or Global Warming, 2004-2025 - September 2025
No full textThe Media and Climate Change Observatory Data monitors 131 sources (across newspapers, radio and TV) in 59 countries in seven different regions around the world. Data is assembled by accessing archives through the Lexis Nexis, Proquest and Factiva databases via the University of Colorado libraries. More information may be found at: http://mecco.colorado.edu.</p
African Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change or Global Warming, 2004-2025 - September 202
No full textThe Media and Climate Change Observatory Data monitors 131 sources (across newspapers, radio and TV) in 59 countries in seven different regions around the world. Data is assembled by accessing archives through the Lexis Nexis, Proquest and Factiva databases via the University of Colorado libraries. More information may be found at: http://mecco.colorado.edu.</p
Spanish Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change or Global Warming, 2000-2025 - September 2025
No full textThe Media and Climate Change Observatory Data monitors 131 sources (across newspapers, radio and TV) in 59 countries in seven different regions around the world. Data is assembled by accessing archives through the Lexis Nexis, Proquest and Factiva databases via the University of Colorado libraries. More information may be found at: http://mecco.colorado.edu.</p
Integrating Social Justice into the Study of Personality
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· Department/Unit of focus: Psychology Department, University of Denver
· Type of Project: Syllabus design
· Project name: Integrating Social Justice into the Study of Personality
Abstract:
1. Issue and Opportunity: This project aims to integrate social justice concepts into the teaching of an advanced undergraduate psychology course on personality (at the University of Denver, where I am an adjunct teacher). Traditional approaches to personality—such as psychoanalytic, trait, biological, humanistic, behavioral/social learning, and cognitive theories—are often presented as universal frameworks. However, these theories have historically been shaped by individualistic, Western, male, and socioeconomically privileged perspectives. Individualistic cultures, which emphasize personal needs, autonomy, and accomplishments, typically view individuals as independent and unique. In contrast, collectivist cultures prioritize belonging, group harmony, and interdependence, viewing individuals as deeply connected to their social and familial networks. The lack of cultural and contextual awareness in predominantly taught personality theories can limit students’ understanding of personality as a dynamic construct shaped by both individual agency and larger social environments. The opportunity lies in reframing the course to help students critically analyze how these dominant theories reflect and perpetuate individualistic norms, while also exploring ways to expand these frameworks to incorporate more collectivist perspectives, as well as a broader range of cultural viewpoints.
2. Social Justice Integration: The project addresses social justice by embedding critical reflection, dialogue, and participatory learning into the curriculum. Students will explore how social, cultural, and economic inequalities influence personality development, expression, and assessment. Through class discussions and reflective writing, students will identify how privilege and oppression shape individual experiences and psychological theory. These reflections will also help students critically evaluate the predominantly taught personality theories that center male, individualistic cultural perspectives. This approach challenges unequal distributions of power, resources, and privilege by validating multiple cultural narratives and encouraging students to situate their own identities within broader social systems.
3. Scope and Scale: The project initially focused on students enrolled in the Fall 2025 undergraduate personality psychology course that I taught. This scope is appropriate because it allows for direct application of socially conscious pedagogy within a single course, enabling careful evaluation of student engagement, inclusivity, and learning outcomes. I plan to apply these redesigned strategies when I re-teach the course in Spring 2026, allowing time to refine materials and assess the effectiveness of these approaches. Lessons learned from this year’s long implementation will inform my teaching practices across other courses I teach and may contribute to broader discussions on equitable curriculum design within the department.
4. Key Partners and Stakeholders: To implement this project, I have collaborated with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to develop inclusive teaching strategies and classroom engagement techniques, as well as with departmental colleagues to gather feedback on content integration and assessment design. I will continue these collaborations as I teach the Spring 2026 course. Together, these efforts will support the creation of a learning environment that promotes both academic rigor and social awareness, empowering students to apply principles of equity and inclusion within psychology and beyond.</p
Utilizing Aphantasia to Examine Embodied Cognition in the Visual Modality
Get PDFThis study investigated the role of mental visual imagery in language processing.Specifically, data was collected on participants with and without aphantasia – a conditionwherein no mental visual imagery occurs – and their reaction times were compared in a propertyverification task. In the study, 39 participants (12 with aphantasia, 27 with mental visualimagery) answered a series of true/false questions focused on visual or motor modalities.Sentences were paired, with the Match condition being a visually-embedded sentence (e.g., coinscan be metallic) followed by another visually-embedded sentence (e.g., grapes can be purple),and the Mismatch condition being a visually-embedded sentence (e.g., coins can be metallic)followed by a motor-embedded sentence (e.g., tires can be slashed). In the Mismatch condition,participants with intact mental visual imagery were expected to answer the second,motor-embedded sentence slower than the first, visually-embedded sentence (i.e. experience aswitching cost). In the Match condition, participants were expected to answer with an equal orfaster speed to the second, visually-embedded sentence. Both of these results would’ve been inaccordance with past research in the field of linguistic embodied cognition (Pecher et al., 2003).On the other hand, participants with aphantasia were not expected to experience a switching costin the Mismatch condition, nor a priming effect in the Match condition. Findings showed,however, that no switching costs or priming effects were observed for either group. That beingsaid, a statistically significant reaction time difference overall was found between theAphantastia and Visual Imagery groups, with the Aphantasia group responding faster than theVisual Imagery group in both conditions. Implications for differences in language processingbetween these two groups therefore merits further investigation, in order to better understanddifferences in how language is processed across the population.</p
I Might 'Wanna Miss a Thing: A Participant Study of Space Science Literacy and Decision Making in Planetary Defense
Get PDFThe topic of planetary defense presents one of many regimes at the intersectionof active scientific research and large scale, practical concern to human popu-lations, in which the issue of effective science communication is of paramountimportance. In this study, we examine the influence of a decision-maker’s back-ground in space science, and the strategies of science communication used topresent a scenario, on the decisions they make when presented with a NearEarth Object (NEO) impact threat. This is done through the use of a scenariosurvey, in which undergraduate student participants were given one of threevariations in wording of the same hazard-object scenario and asked to choosebetween two options for intercept methods. We find anecdotal support for ascience communication strategy emphasizing simplified language, but also con-clude that further research is needed both to refine these findings and to developmore robust methods of analyzing questions related to science communicationand decision making, both in planetary defense and elsewhere.</p
Zinc Homeostasis in Breast Cancer
Get PDFZinc is an essential micronutrient that is necessary for proliferation of human cells. It hasbeen documented that breast cancer tumors have higher levels of total zinc. However, tumors areheterogeneous and consist of cancerous cells, normal tissue cells, infiltrated immune cells,extracellular matrix, blood vessels and other various forms of tissue. Because of this, the sourceof elevated zinc is unknown. My project’s goal is to examine the different amounts of labile zincpresent in breast cancer cells of different phenotypes and aggressive classifications to determinehow zinc affects the proliferation of aggressive vs. non-aggressive breast cancer in comparison tonormal mammalian epithelial cells. To do this, a series of experiments were performed todetermine how the proliferation, amount of zinc (labile and total), and expression of a zinctransporter differ between aggressive breast cancer, non-aggressive breast cancer, and normalcells. First a series of resazurin assays was preformed to establish a base media with minimalzinc. Next, another round of resazurin assays was preformed to test the proliferation of cells indifferent zinc conditions. After that, cytosolic zinc was measured using a genetically encodedfluorescent sensor to quantify the amount of labile zinc in a cell. ICP-MS was performed on theselected cell lines in different zinc conditions to determine the total amount of zinc within a cell.Finally, western blots were used to determine if a zinc regulatory protein was upregulated inbreast cancer cells. I hypothesize that breast cancer cells would have elevated zinc based on theelevated zinc reported in tumors. Furthermore, I hypothesize that high zinc will lead to increasedproliferation. My final hypothesis is that ZnT1 is upregulated in cancer cells. My results foundthat there was a significant fold increase in labile zinc in aggressive vs non-aggressive cancercells in comparison to normal cells. It was also discovered that different levels of zinc present inmedia affects proliferation aggressive vs non-aggressive cancer cells in comparison to normalmammalian cells. This strongly suggests zinc homeostasis is altered in cancer cells.</p
Using GNSS-based vegetation optical depth, tree sway motion, and eddy covariance to examine evaporation of canopy-intercepted rainfall in a subalpine forest
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Recent advances in the measurement of water content within a forest have led to new possibilities to study canopy evaporation. We used a pair of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers (one above the canopy and one near the forest floor) to calculate the vegetation optical depth (VOD) during the warm season in a Colorado subalpine forest. One goal in our study was to compare VOD to the concurrent tree sway motion and subcanopy/above-canopy eddy covariance evapotranspiration (ET) measurements. We found that VOD increased and tree sway frequency decreased during wet periods; furthermore, both measurements exhibited a linear relationship with each other and suggested that it took around 14 h after rainfall ceased for the intercepted rainwater to fully evaporate from the canopy. On dry days, we found that tree sway was more sensitive to diel changes in internal tree water content than VOD. The ET measurements provided quantitative estimates of canopy evaporation (0.02 mm h−1 at night to 0.08 mm h−1 during midday). Following rainfall, nighttime VOD, tree sway, and ET all showed a steady (nearly constant) drying of the canopy. Variability in the VOD and tree sway measurements, comparisons with water content from the CLM4.5 land surface model, and challenges with ET measurements are also discussed.
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Task Force for Micro-Credentials Strategy and Leadership: Report of Recommendations for Campus Leadership
Get PDFThe final report created by the University of Colorado Boulder's Task Force for Micro-Credential Strategy and Leadership provides background information ("Why Micro-Credentials"), eight categories of recommendations for a campus-wide micro-credentials strategy, and potential risk factors and challenges that any such strategy may face.</p
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