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Defining Disability-Centered Design Through Practice: Centering Neurodiversity in a Conservation Park Design
No full textINTRODUCTION This research aims first to define Disability-Centered Design (DCD) as an existing methodological research and design phenomenon, then to explore the practicality of using DCD for public natural parks. DCD differs from similar approaches by emphasizing disabled designers as expert researchers/creators in generating design guidelines that address the bodily, psychological, and cognitive desires and needs of disabled users. DCD typically focuses on designing for specific disability communities with implications for designing in the public sphere. As a case study, DCD was used for a collaborative schematic design that centers neurodivergent spatial experiences for the currently undeveloped Lower Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park (LSBCP) in Potomac, Maryland. LITERATURE REVIEW Different models of disability are discussed in relation to historic and current strategies of disability design, with preference for the social model of disability for its impact on the development of Universal Design and other human-centric approaches. Existing examples of disability design approaches are explored in terms of their applicability/inapplicability to the DCD definition. Particular attention is given to examples that center neurodivergent spatial experiences, including Finnigan’s (2024) Sensory-Responsive Environments and Jensen’s (2023) hypo- and hypersensitivity mapping. Neurodivergence/neurodiversity is defined and existing knowledge about the relationship between neurodiversity (specifically autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia) and spatial experiences (specifically sensory processing, navigation/wayfinding, and information processing) explored. The existing knowledge on the benefits of inclusion in public spaces and access to natural settings for neurodivergent individuals, as well as barriers to accessing these spaces, is also discussed.
METHODS DCD methods include site inventory and analysis of geologic, hydrologic, ecological, and cultural/historical aspects of the LSBCP using a mixture of GIS mapping, historic aerial photographs, secondary historical sources, technical reports and use plan reports for the combined lower and upper sections of the Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park, and personal observations of the site; expert Interviews of disabled and non-disabled disability-focused landscape architects, designers, and design policy makers; hypo-/hypersensitivity mapping using Benjamin Jenson’s (2023) methodology; a participatory sensory audit; and a participatory design workshop. The sensory audit engaged thirteen adult participants, all neurodivergent or parents to neurodivergent children, to tour a conservation park with extant design elements to assess the effectiveness and sensory experiences of particular design and environmental typologies that also exist or will exist within the LSBCP. Participants engaged through verbal, written, photovoice, and good/bad indicator card responses. The same participants then reflected on these explorations of space and design during the design workshop, in which they engaged in a number of interactive activities to generate design ideas for the LSBCP.
EXPECTED RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A final schematic design for Lower Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park is generated unifying the design elements and preferences expressed by participants. The effectiveness of the DCD methods and how they inform the design outcome is discussed
“WE ARE TRAINED TO BE SILENT”: EXPLORING MENTAL ILLNESS COMMUNICATION AMONG UGANDAN WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES (U.S.)
No full textApproximately 1 in 3 Ugandan adults suffers from mental illness and has limited access to mental illness treatment and resources. Moreover, women are twice as likely to experience mental illness as men. Further, due to mental illness stigma and limited resources, 85% of adults with depression are from low and middle-income countries like Uganda and do not seek out treatment for their mental illness. Although existing research has documented that early treatment is critical to managing mental illness before it progresses, these studies were mostly conducted in Western-centric contexts. Given the paucity of mental illness research in the African context, specifically regarding women, this dissertation investigated and documented the unique experiences of Ugandan women in the U.S. with the issue of mental illness, drawing from the Situational Theory of Publics (STP) and the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA). Twenty qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted among Ugandan women, living in the U.S. Specifically, the study posed five research questions that examined (1) how Ugandan women in the U.S. conceptualize the issue of mental illness (2) the role of culture in their conceptualization of mental illness (3) how stigma informed their perception of mental illness (4) their perceived constraints when deciding to seek, or not to seek, mental illness treatment (5) these Ugandan women in the U.S’ evaluations of, and experiences with both medical and media mental illness treatment campaigns.
Twelve Ugandan women in the U.S. aged 30 to 40 who live in the U.S. were sampled using the network sampling approach for the study. Eight women participated in two rounds of interviews each, and the other four participated in one round of interviews. In total, nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom and one over email. The data collected was analyzed thematically.
The study findings revealed that the participants were mostly active publics who had a high level of involvement with the issue of mental illness, a high problem recognition, and low levels of constraint recognition. This increased their information-seeking, information-processing, and treatment-seeking behaviors regarding mental illness. The study also revealed that the CCA element of culture informed the participants’ constraint recognition.
The study findings further indicated that the CCA aspect of structure informed the participants’ constraint recognition and their agency. Ultimately, the research findings confirmed the continuous interaction of the three CCA tenets, culture, structure, and agency, to inform people’s beliefs, practices, and understanding of health within a given cultural context.
Practically, the study concluded that the use of STP to segment the study participants as active publics provided very critical information for relevant mental health entities to create effective mental illness treatment campaigns for Ugandan women in the U.S
Politicizing the Medium and the Message: Media’s Role in Partisan Divisions and Mass Polarization
No full textTo gain novel insights into ideological divisions within the media institution and assess their role in mass partisan polarization, this dissertation develops a comprehensive framework to examine U.S. media coverage of polarizing issues and its effects on audience engagement and news dissemination at the national scale. This framework integrates a global, longitudinal analysis of coverage of three highly polarizing issues by U.S. media outlets—COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the latest war in Gaza—with an investigation into the most engaging and widely disseminated news content. In the case of COVID-19, the framework also models the relationship between news dissemination and public health outcomes across American communities.Using advanced computational and statistical methods, this work presents arguably the largest, most systematic and comprehensive analysis of media coverage of polarizing issues to date. More than 10 million news reports from 131 U.S. media outlets, spanning up to 4.8 years and disseminated across three major platforms—media websites, Facebook, and Twitter (X)—were analyzed. The findings reveal that every analyzed dimension of media coverage—including source selection, coverage volume, topic framing, emotional tone, construal level, and politicization through partisan references—was profoundly shaped by ideological bias. Notably, substantial differences were observed in how news was crafted for different digital platforms, highlighting the pivotal role of platform design in shaping media content.
The study demonstrates that media coverage correlates strongly with both ideological orientation and degree of partisanship, with highly partisan outlets producing more extreme narratives than their moderate counterparts. These outlets relied more heavily on socio-psychological signals—such as out-group partisan references and abstract representations—to craft their narratives. Interestingly, some aspects of coverage showed non-linear relationships with partisanship, suggesting that the ideological dynamics influencing news framing are more complex than previously assumed.
Network analysis enabled the construction of the first comprehensive “connectomes” of media coverage on polarizing issues, exposing deep ideological cleavages within the U.S. media ecosystem. These connectomes revealed how media outlets with differing ideological leanings prioritized distinct individuals and sources and showed the dominance of partisan over nonpartisan outlets in both source selection and coverage emphasis.
Audience engagement analysis revealed stark differences in how Americans interacted with and disseminated polarizing news. Audiences of liberal and conservative media were drawn to different topics, and within each ideological sector, patterns of engagement further distinguished the audiences of moderate versus strongly partisan outlets—suggesting divisions within ideological groups. Unexpectedly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, audiences of conservative media exhibited a progressive increase in preferential engagement with and dissemination of COVID-19-related news across Facebook and Twitter (X), indicating that polarized media coverage can drive shifts in audience engagement patterns at a national scale.
Geo-located analysis of Twitter data revealed that the dissemination of news containing partisan references, as well as accurate information countering COVID-19 misinformation, predicted local patterns of vaccination and mortality, even after accounting for socioeconomic and political variables. These findings provide more direct evidence that media narratives influenced shifts in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, potentially contributing to the polarization of health outcomes during the pandemic.
The dissertation also identifies socioeconomic pressures as highly significant predictors of media coverage. National indices related to COVID-19—including intensive care unit admissions, deaths, hospitalizations, and vaccination rates—as well as economic indicators such as unemployment and the S&P 500 index, were significant predictors of COVID-19 media coverage, with differential effects across partisan media outlets. Socioeconomic stress also interacted with patterns of partisan news dissemination to help explain the polarized COVID-19 outcomes across U.S. communities.
Building on these findings, this dissertation proposes the Media Accelerated Polarization (MAP) model, which posits that ideological fragmentation within the media ecosystem, combined with structural and algorithmic digital factors, interacts with socioeconomic pressures to systematically produce polarized news coverage. This coverage, in turn, shapes audience engagement and persuasion patterns across digital platforms, fueling the selective amplification of politicized content. These dynamics then interact with local socioeconomic conditions to deepen ideological divisions and intensify mass polarization.
The conceptual framework developed in this work—together with the MAP model—contribute to the foundation of the emerging field of institutional media polarization, and may advance our understanding of how ideological, structural and other biases within the media ecosystem shape news production and dissemination in ways that reinforce and exacerbate partisan divisions. By linking institutional media polarization to audience polarization, as well as to the initiation, persistence, and escalation of mass partisan divides, this research highlights key mechanisms through which the media may influence societal fragmentation. A deeper understanding of these dynamics could inform the development of strategies aimed at mitigating polarization and fostering greater social cohesion in an increasingly divided public sphere
Evaluating the functionality of green stormwater infrastructure using stable isotopes of nitrate in stormwater
No full textExcess nutrient loading into water bodies can lead to a suite of negative environmental impacts downstream. Urbanization and suburbanization often lead to nitrate (NO3-) pollution in stream water via the rapid routing of stormwater through impervious infrastructure. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) promotes temporary storage of water through enhanced soil infiltration to mitigate nutrient pollution to receiving surface waters and downstream ecosystems, but its effectiveness at removing NO3- pollution is unclear. To evaluate the effectiveness of GSI at promoting physical and biogeochemical processes that retain and/or remove NO3- during varied hydrological conditions I used stable nitrogen (δ15N) and oxygen (δ18O, δ17O, and Δ17O) isotope ratios of NO3- to distinguish stormwater NO3- sources (i.e., atmospheric and terrestrial NO3-) and infer nitrogen cycling processes in samples (n = 391) collected from 2020-2024 in two adjacent suburban Baltimore watersheds and two adjacent highway swales. Results indicate that despite differences in GSI design between the site scale (i.e., bioswale) and watershed scale (i.e., bioretention cells), greater storm magnitude (i.e., event rainfall) limited NO3-Atm processing at both scales. The factors influencing the modulation and export of NO3- at the grass swale were less clear. Loads of atmospheric NO3- (NO3-Atm) were lower in the watershed with GSI implementation relative to the watershed with traditional stormwater management, likely because impervious surfaces in the latter cause NO3-Atm to bypass processing to a greater extent. Overall, my results imply GSI promotes physical and biogeochemical processes that retain NO3-Atm. Reduced NO3-Atm loads in the total load exported at the GSI watershed indicate that NO3-Atm is incorporated into the terrestrial nitrogen cycle through the uptake of plants and soil microbes within GSI. Considering increasing frequency and magnitude of storm events as a symptom of climate change, future stormwater management techniques that facilitate processing of NO3-Atm independent of precipitation amount, will likely be the most effective at managing NO3- pollution
Expanding the Boundaries of the Anti-slavery Network: The Abolitionist Women of Antebellum Iowa
No full textExpanding the Boundaries of the Anti-slavery Network: The Abolitionist Women of Antebellum Iowa examines the contributions of Iowa women to the anti-slavery movement both nationally and in their local communities. Iowa women dedicated their efforts within their homes, families, and as part of their personal identities to the movement, expanding the geographic boundaries of the anti-slavery network. This research deconstructs traditional definitions of political participation to capture the full extent of women’s contributions. Iowa women engaged in public political activism while infusing their political activism into the feminine antebellum sphere. This broad engagement with the entirety of their contribution in many roles illuminates a new multi-generational structure to the anti-slavery network that transformed the family into an anti- slavery society. Within women’s spaces, young abolitionists engaged with and internalized anti-slavery as part of their identity. The abolitionist home encouraged children’s adoption of the movement as their own in adulthood. Using the personal memoirs of abolitionists and their children, community histories, and newspaper records, this thesis examines the impact of Iowa women’s political efforts and life-long commitment to anti-slavery. Implementing anti-slavery labor into every facet of their lives, Iowa women ensured the endurance of the anti-slavery movement in Iowa throughout the antebellum period
Investigating the Effect of Magnetic Nanoparticles on Collagen Alignment
No full textThe extracellular matrix (ECM) is a protein-rich network in cells, mostly made of collagen type 1. In cancer, collagen alignment is increased, contributing to stiffer ECM and consequently increasing cell migration and tumor progression. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) show a promising way of replicating and studying the cancer microenvironment in vitro. In this study, we aim to visualize how magnetic nanoparticles influence collagen alignment. We use SeraSil-Mag Silica Coated Superparamagnetic beads to serve as magnetic nanoparticles and magnetic bars to induce alignment of collagen. A confocal reflectance microscopy (CRM) is used to view the alignment and is quantified with CurveAlign and MATLAB. Developing this model will lead to further study of drug resistance in cancerNational Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, 204779
Traversing the Rural/Urban Divide: How Community Context Impacts Racialized Policing and Social Movement Response
No full textFor the past decade, over 1,000 civilians have been killed by police in the US annually, with these killings disproportionately impacting Black Americans. When it comes to police use of lethal force, estimates suggest that nearly 28% of the police killings that occurred in 2020 involved a Black victim, even though Blacks comprise only 13% of the US population. Further, almost all the research on racial inequality, police brutality, and civilians killed by the police has focused on the largest cities in the US. This is a major oversight, given that over half of all fatal police shootings occur in jurisdictions with fewer than 50,000 residents. Further, this widespread and continued racially disparate treatment by police sparked the largest social movement in the country's history, as 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Defund the Police' became national rallying cries across the nation in 2020, demanding accountability and police reform. Little scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of these protests on subsequent lethal police violence, and nearly no studies have considered how this protest movement may be differentially experienced among rural communities. Using county-level analyses, the current study examines whether theoretical predictors for lethal police violence are moderated by urban vs. rural context, examines lethal police violence before and after the death of George Floyd, and explores whether the effects of protest activity are contingent on rurality. Findings reveal differential risk factors, protest engagement, and killing outcomes across the urban-rural divide, suggesting that future studies should expand the focus of this literature beyond the largest urban centers
Native Plantings for WMATA Metro Stations: Planting Guide
No full textFinal report for PLSC452: Environmental Horticulture (Spring 2025). University of Maryland, College ParkThis project provides a comprehensive native planting guide tailored for various conditions around Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metro stations. It aims to enhance ecological sustainability, reduce maintenance needs, and improve aesthetics by recommending regionally appropriate native plants.Prince George's County, M
Reprogrammable Integrated Photonics: from Monolithic Phase Change Material Platforms to All-photonic Analog-to-Digital Converter
No full textPhotonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) are revolutionizing optical communication and computing by enabling compact, high-speed, and energy-efficient photonic functionalities. By integrating multiple optical components on a single chip, they reduce footprint, lower power consumption, and enhance data transmission rates. PICs are crucial for optical interconnects, high-speed signal processing, LiDAR, biomedical sensing, and quantum information processing. As demand for faster, more efficient photonic technologies grows, PICs address the limitations of traditional electronics, driving advancements in scalable and high-performance optical systems. However, achieving post-fabrication tunability and efficient all-optical signal processing remains a major challenge. Traditional PICs often suffer from static configurations and complex electronic-photonic integration for key functionalities such as reconfigurable switching and all-optical signal processing. This dissertation addresses these challenges through two key approaches: developing tunable phase change materials (PCMs)-based photonic platforms that enable dynamic control over optical properties for reconfigurable photonic circuits and realizing an all-photonic analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for high-speed all-optical signal conversion.
The first part of this dissertation demonstrates the first instance of amorphous Ge₂Sb₂Se₄Te (am-GSST) waveguides integrated on a silicon dioxide (SiO₂) insulator substrate. This platform allows for low-loss PICs in the telecommunication wavelengths with post-fabrication tuning through localized phase transitions. Moreover, this section investigates the different loss mechanisms, linear and nonlinear properties, and the thermo-optic coefficient of am-GSST to understand better the material properties and its potential for tunable photonic applications. Lastly, this section demonstrates post-fabrication tuning of devices using laser irradiation, thus achieving controlled refractive index modulation and enabling optical trimming.
The second part of this dissertation explores am-GSST waveguides integrated on an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrate with a refractive index tuned to 1 (i.e., same as air) through epsilon-near-zero effects. The ITO underlayer plus an air cladding enables mode symmetrization, which is otherwise challenging to achieve in PICs and particularly useful for polarization-insensitive PICs and reconfigurable photonic crystal applications. This section details the material deposition, optical characterization, and device simulations, highlighting how GSST-on-ITO can enable dynamic photonic switching with improved control over optical properties. Furthermore, this section investigates post-fabrication tuning using an electron beam to achieve higher-resolution modifications, offering a finer level of control for device optimization.
Finally, this dissertation presents novel all-photonic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) on a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) platform. The proposed design leverages existing Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology to achieve high-speed optical signal conversion, crucial for next-generation optical computing and communication systems. Compared to conventional electronic ADCs, this design performs the conversion entirely in the optical domain, reducing power consumption, increasing speed, and eliminating the complexity associated with electronic-to-optical conversions. The study explores resonator designs, material choices, and fabrication strategies, demonstrating a functional ADC prototype with enhanced precision and efficiency.
This work advances reconfigurable integrated photonics and paves the way for scalable optical computing solutions by integrating tunable material platforms and optical signal processing approaches. Its contributions provide a foundation for future photonic devices that combine high-speed processing, energy efficiency, and dynamic reconfigurability, making them well-suited for next-generation communication and computational systems
VIBRANT RIVERDALE, BRIDGING TO COMMUNITIES
No full textDeveloped by decades of car-centric planning, suburban communities in the United States often suffer from fragmented infrastructure, environmental degradation, and social disconnection. As these areas become more diverse and dense, their outdated spatial models fail to support walkability, public life, or community well-being. In places like Riverdale Park, Maryland, home to one of the nation’s most immigrant-rich populations, these challenges are intensified by limited access to safe, inclusive, and connected public spaces. This thesis examines how such underutilized suburban landscapes reflect broader patterns of inequality in the built environment, exploring the integration of community, cultural belonging, and ecology