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The Upton Renaissance: A Block Prototype for Urban Revitalization
No full textHousing has been a persistent issue in America since pre-WWII, and public housing remains an unsolved challenge. Nearly a century after the New Deal, efforts to address housing shortages, density, and poverty through trial and error have failed to alleviate many Americans' social inequalities and poor living conditions.
This thesis examines the shortcomings of public housing in America by analyzing global housing projects. While public housing is a pressing issue in cities like Baltimore and across the East Coast, it remains a worldwide challenge. However, America's approach to addressing fair housing has varied and has been problematic for residents, policymakers, planners, designers, and government entities. This thesis will also propose a new prototype, using an interdisciplinary framework to improve the mental and physical well-being of low-income communities while reducing displacement in marginalized neighborhoods.
The proposed prototype will challenge and seek a better model for public and profoundly affordable housing that extends beyond housing to include amenities and service buildings that empower residents. It is crucial to recognize that housing alone is insufficient to address the broader social and economic challenges experienced. However, this model offers hope, ensuring that residents' environments meet their needs and improve their quality of life despite financial constraints
Including Disability in Datasets and AI Development
No full textAdvances in artificial intelligence (AI) promise to remove accessibility barriers experienced by disabled people. Data is often a prerequisite for this promise. However, datasets sourced from disabled people (i.e., accessibility datasets) are scarce, limiting innovation and raising concerns of harm for this community. Inclusivity issues, including lack of data representativeness, tend to rise in the development. Too often, the teams defining objectives and model requirements for developing AI-infused solutions lack members with lived experience of disability. More so, existing practices to include disabled people in the AI development lifecycle often come with ethical, practical, and methodological dilemmas.
The overarching goal of my research is to realize this promise of AI for accessibility. Through a weave of threads and a mixed-methods approach, this dissertation proposal aims to mitigate issues of inclusivity by ascertaining the gaps and addressing the misalignments of datasets and AI development practices with disabled people’s needs and contexts.
Thread I. Underlining the importance of data, I discover and question the norms related to including disability in datasets. I conduct a meta-analysis of accessibility datasets over the last four decades to ascertain the gaps in data collection and sharing practices and their result in intersectional representation.
Thread II. To address misalignment of existing norms with the disability community, I surface people’s perspectives on data collection and sharing for increasing disability representation in AI datasets. With a focus on the blind community, I conduct contextual interviews, followed by a co-design study to foster active participation of blind people to shape future data stewardship practices.
Thread III. Moving beyond datasets, I expand my research to broader AI development including problem formulation and evaluation. With a focus on the Deaf community, I conduct surveys to ascertain the gaps in expectations between machine learning practitioners and Deaf/deaf people in AI for sign language. I also address misalignment via paired co-design studies to foster collaboration involving the Deaf community in AI teams
Measuring the effect of a prescribed burn on nitrification-coupled denitrification in a restored Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh
No full textPrescribed burning is a management practice used in tidal marshes of the Mid-Atlantic United States to improve habitat for wildlife. The impact of burning on tidal marsh biogeochemical processes, especially coupled nitrification-denitrification, has not been characterized. This study investigated the effect of burning on nitrification coupled denitrification in a restored tidal marsh on Poplar Island, Maryland, United States. A prescribed burn was completed in March 2024 to remove overwintering habitat for stem-boring insects. Soil-water exchange of gases and nutrients and soil pore water nutrients were measured before and after the prescribed burn. A nitrate addition experiment was conducted to explore the importance of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. Soil-water exchange did not respond to burning, though strong interannual variation in denitrification was detected, with high rates measured in July 2023. The nitrate addition experiment revealed an increase in ammonium production, indicating the presence of the DNRA pathway in Poplar’s marshes
CATCHING SOLUTIONS: ARCHITECTURE’S ROLE IN TACKLING GHOST FISHING
No full textGhost fishing, caused by derelict fishing gear, poses significant threats to marine biodiversity and ecosystems. The marine biome, covering over 70% of the Earth's surface, is vital for ecological, economic, social, and cultural well-being, yet human activities have led to severe challenges for these ecosystems. Historical examples show how coastal civilizations have thrived due to their access to marine resources, but modern societies have often failed to respect and maintain this harmony. Ghost fishing has detrimental effects on various marine species and communities that rely on marine life for food and economic security. This paper proposes architectural solutions to mitigate the impacts of ghost fishing while emphasizing the need for marine habitat restoration
A Parallel Consciousness: Kinship & Spirituality
No full textMy research, A Parallel Consciousness: Kinship & Spirituality project, analyzed and examined primary and secondary sources of documentation to curate micro-biographies from individual and family information of 19th century enslavement. The project focused specifically on the ties of enslavement to the prominent Sothoron family of the Plains Plantation located in St. Mary’s County near Benedict Charles County and the Patuxent River. John Henry Sothoron was on the board of Trustees of the Maryland Agricultural College which became the University of Maryland. He was an enslaver of about 82 slaves during his time as well. From those 82 people in enslavement, Abraham(Abram) Harris was an individual embodying spirituality while the Morris family exemplified kinship. From qualitative data and document analysis, kinship and spirituality were concluded to be consistent themes explored through ethnographic and genealogy methods. Both themes, being extensions of ancestral veneration, guidance from ancestors to exemplify in the living world. Ultimately, this research reframes the historical narrative of enslaved people to portray the parallels of the souls and mindsets of those enslaved and the enslaver. Abraham Harris’ story is a testimony of the faith, morality, and education he possessed to his freedom. The Morris family is an early representation of dismantling the broken image of Black families and their dynamics
Exploring the Potential for a Community Development Corporation in Beltsville, Maryland
No full textFinal report for PLCY400: Senior Capstone (Spring 2025). University of Maryland, College ParkThis paper examines how Beltsville, Maryland could create a community development corporation (CDC) to pursue development opportunities. Effective CDCs blend strong community engagement and service provision, secure funding from diverse sources, operate with robust governance, and employ local leaders and staff. This report’s findings are a result of combining several research methods including interviews, reports, and a site visit. We recommend that Beltsville establish a CDC to facilitate the community’s development.Prince George's County, M
DESIGN OF COMPLIANT NONLINEAR ARTICULATED SUSPENSION FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL ROVING VEHICLE
No full textDesigning extreme-access planetary rovers requires advanced articulation mechanisms to traverse rugged terrain, conquer steep slopes, and reduce mission risk. These qualities involve balancing geometric constraints, load distribution, and passive compliance for astronauts on EVA. This dissertation develops a generalizable framework for creating compliant, articulated suspension systems with high degrees of articulation. By closely examining the relationships among kinematics, applied forces, and component-level constraints, the proposed methods address significant gaps in rover mobility research in the areas of systems design, dynamic formulation, and commonly overlooked real-world considerations. In particular, this work demonstrates a holistic approach that integrates quasi-static sum-of-moments tools with Lagrangian-based dynamic modeling and machine learning-driven parameter identification, ensuring robust performance throughout a wide range of operating conditions. The resulting methodology offers a scalable, adaptable framework for future rovers tasked with extreme-access missions
IN THEIR OWN VOICES: SAUDI WOMEN’S EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNEYS THROUGH U.S. GRADUATE PROGRAMS
No full textThis qualitative study explores the experiences of Saudi Arabian women who pursued graduate education in the United States through the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP). Using a narrative case study approach, it centers the voices of seven participants to examine how they navigated personal, academic, and cultural transitions across transnational contexts. Informed by transnational feminism, Islamic and Arab feminisms, and Saudi feminist perspectives, the study highlights how participants negotiated gender norms, family expectations, and societal change. Although none of the women explicitly identified as feminists or activists, their actions—pursuing advanced degrees, asserting their place in emerging professional fields, and advocating for themselves within gendered relational and social dynamics—embody context-specific expressions of feminist resistance. Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, the study identifies strategies of “stealth activism” and “patriarchal bargaining,” where participants asserted agency within the constraints of cultural and state-led institutional systems. These narratives challenge Western-centric understandings of feminism and emphasize the importance of contextually grounded, culturally responsive approaches to women's empowerment. This research contributes to the fields of international education, feminist theory, and Middle Eastern studies by amplifying the lived experiences of Saudi women and calling for more inclusive frameworks that highlight diverse expressions of agency, resistance, and transformation
Of course they'd say that! Children's reasoning about potentially biased claims about groups
No full textThis study examined how 150 6- to 13-year-old children reason about valenced group-based testimony (e.g., “Gorps are not very nice”) in a novel intergroup context. We investigated children’s developing ability to integrate the social group membership of an informant into their reasoning about testimony across three interrelated tasks. First, children’s expectations of what someone will say about their in-group and out-group were examined. Second, we assessed whether children’s willingness to believe group-based testimony varied by the group membership of the informant and the testimony’s valence. Third, we explored when children chose to share group-based testimony with an impartial student. Results showed that (1) children expect someone to say something nice about their in-group and something not nice about their out-group; (2) the ability to detect informant bias develops around 10-years-old, and varies by the valence of a testimony and the group-membership of the informant; and (3) children’s decisions to share testimony is only sometimes aligned with their belief in that testimony. Together, these results highlight the complicated ways in which social group membership influences what we expect people to say, what we choose to believe, and our decisions about what information to pass on to others
DIRECT LASER WRITING FOR SOFT ROBOTIC COMPONENTS
No full textSoft robots have increased safety for human robot interactions compared to rigid robots because of the compliant materials used to fabricate them. As such they are excellent candidates for adding enhanced functionality to surgical tools such as guidewires for endovascular procedures. Conventional guidewires have no method of steering other than the surgeon pushing, pulling, and twisting the guidewire to navigate through vasculature to reach the intended target location. Introducing a pneumatically actuated soft robot to the guidewires can enable steering capabilities in a guidewire while requiring minimal additional equipment in the operating room. Unfortunately, some procedures, such as the treatment of cerebral aneurysms, would require the addition of soft robots on the microscale, which are difficult or impossible to fabricate using traditional fabrication techniques such as molding or layering, to navigate the small vasculature. The microscale additive manufacturing strategy Direct Laser Writing (DLW) offers unique capabilities that can be used to fabricate these complex structures. In this dissertation we explore the development of DLW printed soft robotic steerable guidewires. First, we examined the feasibility of using ex situ direct laser writing (esDLW) to fabricate soft robots by printing soft robotic components directly atop and fluidically sealed to microfluidic chips. We evaluated the integrity of the fluidic seal created by this fabrication strategy and the fluidic actuation capabilities of the soft robotic components. Next, we investigated the use of esDLW to fabricate a soft robotic steerable guidewire by printing a bidirectional soft robot atop dual lumen tubing. The introduction of vat two-photon polymerization allows for the esDLW printing of tall soft robots (5 mm in height), necessary for steering through vasculature, while still maintaining the microscale features necessary to create the thin-walled bellowed structure inherent to pneumatic soft robots. Finally, we developed a method of fabricating ultra-high aspect ratio (1300:1 or higher) DLW printed multilumen tubing enabling the fabrication of a monolithic soft robotic steerable guidewire. We characterized the bending characteristics of the guidewire and navigated a phantom to demonstrate the guidewire’s steerability. This work demonstrates the capabilities of using DLW to fabricate soft robotic structures and shows promise for the use of DLW printed soft robots as steerable guidewires. While the focus of this dissertation was on the development of endovascular surgical tools the strategies used can be employed in other fields such as organ-on-a-chip fabrication, micromanipulation, or drug delivery