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Echoes of the Past: The Interwoven History and Culture of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia and the American Eel
Get PDFThe American eel (Anguilla rostrata) has played a vital ecological, economic, and cultural role along the East Coast of North America for millennia. Once comprising an estimated one quarter of the Chesapeake Bay’s fish biomass, the species has declined to approximately one percent of its historical abundance, largely due to habitat loss, shifting ocean currents, pollution, and overfishing. This capstone project examines the intertwined natural history of the American eel and the cultural history of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia, whose members have relied on the eel both as a food source and as a centerpiece of cultural identity. Drawing from ecological literature, fisheries data, and tribal oral histories, this work documents the lifecycle and population trends of the American eel, the rise and fall of the Potomac River eel fishery, and the evolution of the Patawomeck split oak eel pot tradition. The transition from split oak pots to wire pots, the emergence of new markets, and the collapse of commercial demand are contextualized within broader population declines. Despite these challenges, recent habitat restoration, including dam removals and fish passage improvements, has fostered signs of recovery. Today, the split oak eel pot endures as a symbol of cultural resilience and continuity within the Patawomeck community.Coastal and Marine SciencesMaster of Arts (M.A.
Surfacing the microscopic: outreach strategies for communicating harmful algal blooms to the public
Get PDFScientific research is shared primarily through peer-reviewed journals, yet these publications are largely inaccessible to the public due to paywalls, technical language, and limited outreach beyond academic communities. As environmental changes accelerate, the gap between scientific knowledge and public understanding underscores the need for researchers to effectively communicate their work with broader audiences. This paper presents a six-part science communication framework designed to guide scientists in building communication products that translate research into accessible, audience-appropriate formats. This guide will take readers through the framework step-by-step: establishing goals, identifying a target audience, selecting a communication method, applying tactical approaches, crafting key messages, and implementing evaluation strategies. The framework is then demonstrated through example products, illustrating how each component supports effective design and implementation.Coastal and Marine SciencesMaster of Arts (M.A.
Parental attachment representations and children’s prosocial behavior: The role of parental empathy
No full textProsocial behavior, defined as intrinsically or extrinsically motivated voluntary actions that benefit others (Spinrad & Gal, 2018), usually emerges within the second year of life (Brownell et al., 2013). Parental socialization of prosocial behavior may be facilitated by secure parent-child attachment (Gross et al., 2017). Less is known about how parents’ attachment representations relate to children’s prosocial behavior, or about the potential role of parental empathy in mediating this association. The current study aimed to fill these gaps in the literature using a community sample of parent-child dyads (n = 110) followed from toddlerhood into preschool age (M = 3.91 years). We hypothesized that parental attachment, indexed using secure base script knowledge assessed during toddlerhood, would positively relate to parent-reported prosocial behavior as well as children’s prosocial responses to conflict vignettes during preschool. Additionally, we hypothesized that parental empathy rated from semi-structured interviews during the assessment age would act as a mediator between parental attachment and prosocial behavior. Our hypotheses were partially supported: parental attachment predicted parents’ cognitive, affective, and overall empathy, as well as children’s prosocial behavior responses. Although parental cognitive empathy was positively associated with children’s prosocial responses to conflict vignettes, parental affective empathy was negatively associated with prosocial responding. Parental attachment had a significant indirect effect on children’s prosocial behavior through affective empathy, but not cognitive or overall empathy; unexpectedly, this indirect effect was negative. Future research is needed to clarify longitudinal relationships between parental attachment, parental empathy, and prosocial behavior.PsychologyBachelors of Arts (BA
Space and Wellness: Philippine Welser in Schloss Ambras
No full textThis paper focuses on Philippine Welser (1527-1580), the morganatic wife of the Governor of Tyrol, Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529-1595). Philippine was the owner of Schloss Ambras in her own right, legitimizing her own power and autonomy beyond her marriage. Having been largely erased from the historical narrative following her death, then reintroduced to the public memory in the Victorian era as a vapid beauty, this project seeks to examine Philippine’s medical knowledge and personhood within the contexts of Schloss Ambras’s spaces. The first chapter of this paper examines the domestic spaces of Schloss Ambras and compares them to the public spaces of Schloss Ambras and the Hofburg Innsbruck. Further, the structure is compared to similar sites. The second chapter examines the concepts of health and wellness and how they were integrated into Schloss Ambras, as well as Philippine’s possible impact on the famed Schloss Ambras kunstkammer. The final chapter investigates botany and religion and the role these two practices played in Philippine’s life. This paper reevaluates Philippine’s legacy within the context of Schloss Ambras from the Renaissance to the Victorian era to the contemporary day.Art and Art HistoryBachelors of Arts (BA
Engaging Dirshuni as a Collective Women's Enterprise: A Translation, Commentary, and Analysis of the Story of Yehudit
No full textMass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics of Microorganisms
No full textProteomics is a growing field which aims to study the structure, function, and interactions of proteins. Mass spectrometry has become a powerful tool in the study of proteins due to the distinct masses of the different amino acids that compose proteins. In this work, we use a bottom-up proteomic approach to characterize protein expression in microorganisms. We focus on two organisms of interest: the mycobacteriophage CrimD and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. The infection of Mycobacterium smegmatis by CrimD was frozen at three different time points with the goal of characterizing the infection process and identifying the roles of unknown proteins found in the genome. In H. pylori, the regulatory protein ArsR was purified in order to investigate the potential of post-translational modifications similar to those in closely related organisms. In our analysis we use reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a linear ion trap mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization. These techniques have yielded reproducible results. The CrimD infections yielded high confidence protein results, while the H. pylori samples show low confidence identification of the modifications of interest.ChemistryBachelors of Science (BS
Reconciling scale using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework to improve management of woody encroachment in grasslands
No full textImplementing strategies to navigate large-scale ecological transitions in grasslands is one of this century's greatest conservation challenges. In the US Great Plains, managing areas impacted by woody transitions have been reactive, short-lived, costly, and ineffective. Along with current technological innovation in rangeland monitoring, the promise of early warning science is to provide managers with sufficient time to be better prepared for novel signals of ecological change. Combining the science of early warning signals and frameworks such as the Resist – Accept – Direct (RAD) can provide land managers with guidelines to identify proactive strategies when facing ecological change. Using this approach, we found that opportunities to resist woody transitions decreased from 84 % to 60 % between 1990 and 2020 over the entire biome but remained highest in the northern and western Great Plains, which contributes to large scale conservation targets. These are key areas to prioritize resist opportunities. In contrast, 11 % of the biome exhibited early warning transition signals across all hierarchical scales by 2020, a fourfold increase since 1990. Lastly by 2020, 30 % of the biome exhibited early warning signals across multiple but not all scales. Here, efforts may be more effective when management is directed to conserve fragmented grassland legacies within a woody-dominated matrix and avoid large-scale monocultures of problematic encroaching woody species. Our multi-scale study indicates that 1) anchoring to the last remaining grassland core areas with no early warning of transitions and 2) strategically investing in these intact grasslands may provide the best results for grassland conservation
Changing Attitudes and Provoking Action: Perspective-Taking Mobilizes White Americans for Prisoner Release
No full textImagining oneself in another’s position can soften animus and promote empathy. When one’s loved ones have intense contact with carceral institutions, it can provoke a sense of injustice and political mobilization. Drawing on these insights, I design a survey experiment which assigns respondents to a no-treatment condition, an informational control, an egocentric perspective-taking exercise (imagining they are incarcerated), or a surrogate perspective-taking exercise (imagining someone close to them is incarcerated). I test the effects of the treatments on attitudes toward prisoner release and a semi-behavioral measure—whether respondents write a message to their sheriff in support of release. Relative to the no-treatment condition, the informational control doesn’t elicit changes. However, egocentric and surrogate perspective-taking can increase pro-release attitudes and mobilize respondents to write in support of release. These results push forward the literature on punitive attitudes by considering what forces might mobilize Americans against the carceral state
Elias Boudinot and the Cherokee Nation: Assimilation, Resistance, and the Cost of Survival
No full textExcerpt from paper: As the United States expanded westward in the early nineteenth century, settlers’ demand for land sparked conflicts with the Indigenous peoples occupying their ancestral lands. The Cherokee Nation, one of the tribes facing removal, adopted the strategy of assimilation to resist displacement. Elias Boudinot, a prominent Cherokee leader and newspaper editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, played a key role in this effort. Through his editorials, Boudinot aimed to document Cherokee advancement and demonstrate that the Cherokee could become as “civilized” as Americans. However, he soon realized that the U.S. government's push for removal had little to do with perceptions of Cherokee backwardness and everything to do with a refusal to accept their existence as Indians. Disillusioned, Boudinot gave up the resistance effort and supported removal, seeing it as the most pragmatic means to ensure his people's survival. Boudinot's shift in stance on removal represented not a betrayal from his tribe but a strategic decision that prioritized the survival of the people through territorial compromise similar to the nation’s selective cultural adoption. By shifting from resistance to accepting removal, Boudinot chose to preserve the Cherokee Nation’s existence, even at the cost of ancestral lands.Histor
State of the York Watershed System
No full textThe files provided here are compressed. For high resolution versions, please contact stateoftheyork @ vims.eduStemming directly from needs expressed by regional residents and practitioners, the State of the York Watershed System is a synthesis of the status, trends and opportunities in the York River, Mobjack Bay and Piankatank River basins. The report details a System largely (75%) natural in character facing the collective impacts of an increasing population and changing environmental conditions. Content, developed to showcase place-based data and perspective for informed decision-making and inspired action, is delivered in three overarching sections focused on landscape, water quality, and natural and cultural resources. Key System facts, resources and tools are highlighted throughout the report alongside case studies, calls to action, and opportunities for continued study and/or investment. Led by Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia, this effort represents the first of its kind since 2000, and incorporates the work and/or input of more than 160 people regionwide. More on the effort, including the report’s companion pieces, here: https://yorkriverroundtable.org/soty/Virginia Institute of Marine Scienc