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Demonstrating the potential of biophilic design, sustainable site initiatives, and regenerative landscape design to transform neglected and underutilized spaces into vibrant, eco-friendly hubs in Mckeesport Pennsylvania.
No full textMcKeesport is a city located along Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, about 13 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It is part of the River metropolitan area. McKeesport, once a thriving center of steel production, is now facing significant challenges associated with industrial decline, urban blight, flood hazard, population decline, brownfield sites and environmental degradation. However, the transformation of neglected spaces within the city into sustainable and vibrant urban hubs offers a powerful opportunity for revitalization. By incorporating natural elements such as green roofs, urban agriculture, and native plant restoration, this project seeks to create spaces that not only improve environmental quality but also promote social well-being and economic growth, with community and stakeholders’ engagement. Additionally, sustainable stormwater management, renewable energy integration, and ecological restoration techniques will be employed to mitigate the environmental impacts of industrialization and climate change.
The goal of this project is to demonstrate the transformative potential of biophilic design, sustainable site initiatives, and regenerative landscape design in revitalizing neglected and underutilized spaces in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. By using available GIS data and remote sensing analysis to integrate these innovative design principles, the project aims to enhance environmental sustainability, housing, attract investments, new opportunities in landscaping, and urban farming and contribute to regional economic resilience. Also, the project seeks to foster community engagement, and promote economic revitalization, turning abandoned residential, railroads, industrial sites and brownfield sites into vibrant, eco-friendly spaces that are beneficial to the environment and the local population
Investigating the biology, hypovirulence, and pathogenicity of three canker-causing phytopathogenic fungi in the Cryphonectriaceae and Cytosporaceae on American chestnut (Castanea dentata) and oaks (Quercus spp.) in the eastern U.S.
No full textAmerican chestnut (Castanea dentata) and various oak species (Quercus spp.) are impacted by several economically important canker pathogens in the fungal order Diaporthales, namely Cryphonectria parasitica and Endothia gyrosa (Cryphonectriaceae). Cytospora canker caused by several closely related fungi in the fungal genera Cytospora and Valsa (Cytosporaceae) have also been implicated in causing canker diseases of Quercus and Castanea in Asia, Europe and North America. The impacts of C. parasitica on American chestnut have been exhaustively studied and it’s impacts on various oak hosts have also been broadly investigated and reported. Endothia gyrosa has also been thoroughly investigated on oak, but to a lesser extent on chestnut species. Cytospora canker has been reported from numerous woody hosts, but formal pathogenicity studies on native oaks and chestnut in the United States have not been undertaken. Direct comparisons between these phytopathogens on single hosts have also not been formally investigated.
From 2021-2025, we conducted a series of lab and field experiments to compare the pathogenicity of lab strains of C. parasitica, E. gyrosa and a field recovered Cytospora ceratosperma strain to better understand the relative risks posed by each fungus. Lab studies were conducted on cut stems of northern red oak (Quercus rubra; red oak family) in 2021 and 2024, while field investigations were conducted in 2023 and 2024 on both red oak and chestnut oak trees (Quercus montana; white oak family). Overall, experiments showed E. gyrosa was more aggressive than C. parasitica on cut stem assays, whereas field studies revealed only C. parasitica produced significant cankers on northern red oak after six months. However, none of the fungi tested caused significantly larger cankers on chestnut oak compared to the negative control, yet all treatments produced cankers. Recovery of naturally occurring Cytospora ceratosperma from 2023 and 2024 inoculation sites across all treatments helped in part to explain the presence of some cankers in negative control treatments as well as clarify the pervasiveness of this fungus in the forest environment. Temperature assays between C. parasitica and E. gyrosa indicated that C. parasitica grew better than E. gyrosa across a range of tested temperatures that these fungi typically experience under field conditions but neither was subjected to lethal temperatures during our studies. These results indicate that C. parasitica, E. gyrosa, and C. ceratosperma (in the case of northern red oak) are weak pathogens on the two oak species tested and likely only infect or cause significant disease on these hosts opportunistically as trees age or experience other environmental stressors. Follow-up studies looking at timing of inoculation and combinations of these fungi in enhancing disease are needed to better understand disease dynamics in this pathosystem.
To further our understanding of C. parasitica and E. gyrosa, a series of additional experiments comparing virulent (V) and transfected strains of each on cut-stem and apples were undertaken. Temperature assays were also conducted to determine the effect of hypovirus, if any, on mycelial growth under different temperatures. As part of these investigations, we successfully transfected two strains of E. gyrosa with CHV1 hypoviruses via anastomosis with engineered super donor (SD) strains of C. parasitica, which to our knowledge represents the first successful transfection through anastomosis. Cut stem assays conducted on northern red oak and apple assays indicated that though putative transfected E. gyrosa strain phenotypes had reduced pigmentation as is expected with CHV1 hypovirus infection, they behaved as if they had enhanced virulence exhibiting superior growth across a range of temperatures and increased virulence on apples and cut red oak stems compared to V counterparts. Transfected C. parasitica strains exhibited more typical behavior with diminished growth compared to the V isogenic counterparts. In temperature assays, differences in growth were more pronounced between V and transfected C. parasitica strains at 10 °C and 15 °C and between V and transfected strains of E. gyrosa at 30 °C. Finally, historically vic incompatible virulent European strains of C. parasitica(EU65-EU73) were paired with SD strains to help determine vic barriers that prevented successful anastomosis with EU tester strains and subsequent transfection. All of the EU65-EU73 strains were successfully transfected using SD strains, but transmission rates for certain strains, namely EU65 and EU70, never exceeded 10% or 21%, respectively, for either hypovirus strain tested. These data support the possibility of additional vic alleles or vic genes in atypical European C. parasitica strains from France and Switzerland. Together these findings advance our understanding of hypovirus-fungus interactions and pave the way for transformative studies that may serve to better control devastating plant pathogenic fungi.
Finally, in 2016-2017, SD strains of C. parasitica were deployed at two field sites on the Savage River State Forest in Western Maryland to assess the biocontrol efficacy of SD strains using different hypoviruses and application methods against stands with naturally occurring chestnut blight. Though both experiments were initially successful with most cankers diminishing and transfection occurring in most isolates one-year post-application, without additional treatment, a majority of trees succumbed to disease and died within 2-3 years’ time. In 2022, SD treated trees were evaluated, sampled and harvested to allow for comprehensive vic genotyping of cankers on surviving and chestnut blight killed American chestnut trees. A total of 296 C. parasitica strains representing five unique phenotypes were recovered from across the 69 previously treated American chestnut trees including ten trees that were still alive at the time of resampling. Vic genotyping was performed on 110 recovered C. parasitica strains to compare with previous vic genotype diversity at both sites. Overall, vic genotype diversity increased from 22 vic genotypes to 45 vic genotypes between 2017 and 2022 at SD site 1.0 and from 36 to 44 between 2018 and 2022 at SD site 2.0, the latter of which appears to be near the upper limit of vic genotypic diversity reported from a single site and the highest reported recovery at a single site to this date. However, no C. parasitica phenotypes or dominant vic genotypes were specifically associated with the surviving trees or treatments. In vitro hypovirus transfection pairing assays performed on atypical putative transfected phenotypes confirmed successful transmission though transfection rates varied across phenotypes and replicates. SD strains still offer great promise in controlling chestnut blight but will require reapplication to previously treated cankers and newly formed cankers on previously treated trees to counteract the ever-increasing vic diversity of virulent strains in the environment. Together these findings advance our understanding of hypovirus-fungus interactions and pave the way for transformative studies that may serve to better control devastating plant pathogenic fungi
Modeling Energetic Electron Precipitation: Radiation Belt Loss, Its Drivers, and Atmospheric Impacts
Full text linkEnergetic electrons in the terrestrial outer radiation belt present significant hazards to spacecraft systems and human operations in space. The intensity of these electrons can vary rapidly and dramatically during geomagnetic storms, governed by a complex competition between acceleration and loss processes. Among these, precipitation into the atmosphere via resonant wave-particle interaction acts as a key loss mechanism. This dissertation focuses on improving the quantification of energetic electron precipitation using physics-based modeling constrained by low-altitude satellite observations.
We begin by developing and validating the Drift-Diffusion model, which simulates low-altitude electron dynamics while accounting for azimuthal drift, pitch-angle diffusion, and atmospheric backscatter. Using data from the POES/MetOp satellite constellation, we constrain the model to infer event-specific diffusion rates based solely on observed low-altitude electron distributions. Applying this method to an event on August 21, 2013, we show that precipitation dominates the loss near L=4.5 (approximately equal to radial distance in units of Earth radii) for electrons below ~850 keV. This approach enables the separation of precipitation from other loss or acceleration mechanisms without relying on sparse high-altitude satellite wave measurements.
Building on this, we apply a novel version of the Drift-Diffusion model to reconstruct the spatiotemporal evolution of plasmaspheric hiss wave power responsible for a precipitation event on October 15, 2016. By redefining the model parameters in terms of wave properties, we use low-altitude observations to infer the spatial distribution and evolution of wave power. The quantified wave power agrees well with in-situ observations from Van Allen Probes, and the spatial evolution is consistent with previous statistical and machine learning studies. Furthermore, the model suggests the presence of undetected “low”-frequency plasmaspheric hiss, likely masked by instrument noise. This approach of using low-altitude data to constrain event-specific wave power distribution is critically important in accurately quantifying energetic electron precipitation, and its atmospheric consequences.
Finally, we address a key limitation in bounce-averaged pitch-angle diffusion models: their inability to accurately represent loss cone fluxes due to the neglect of atmospheric backscatter. Using Geant4-based simulations, we estimate and quantify the effects backscatter as two separate processes, backscatter-induced pitch-angle diffusion (Db), and attenuation of atmospheric absorption (Fb). Incorporating these effects into a modified pitch-angle diffusion model, we compare ELFIN satellite observations during Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) wave-driven precipitation events, and demonstrate that by including backscatter, it resolves the previously unexplained enhancements in the loss cone flux for electrons below ~300 keV.
Together, these studies advance the modeling of energetic electron precipitation in the outer radiation belt, reduce reliance on limited in-situ wave measurements, and ultimately improve the ability to assess precipitation loss into the atmosphere and to understand its atmospheric consequences
Global China in Pakistan: Mixed-Methods Analysis of Symbolic Domination, Social Media Geopolitics, and Security Corridors
Full text linkThis dissertation explores the discursive and material dimensions of China’s global rise through a case study of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Pakistan. As China becomes a leading provider of development finance, its infrastructure-led approach is reshaping geographies across the Global South. Focusing on the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—the BRI’s flagship project—I examine how Chinese and Pakistani actors co-produce development through discourses, infrastructures, and security regimes. Structured around three articles, the dissertation analyzes: (1) the official diplomatic discourses of Chinese state institutions and their reception by Pakistani media outlets; (2) the curated geopolitical discourses of Chinese social media users living in Pakistan on the poverty and lack of development there; and (3) the militarized infrastructures and security regimes embedded in development projects. Drawing on eight months of fieldwork in Pakistan, computational social science, geospatial analysis, and discourse analysis across text, video, and spatial data, I argue that the BRI in Pakistan is co-produced through discursive and material practices, fragmented actors, differentiated geographies, and entangled regimes of development and security
Exploration of Coping and Mental Health in West Virginia Farmers
Full text linkCompared nationally, West Virginia currently ranks lowest for life expectancy, highest for drug related deaths and 35th for access to adequate health (WV DHHR Organization Assessment & Strategic Plan, 2022). The state also ranks first in the nation for depression with one in four adults experiencing some form of depressive condition each year (CDC, 2020). The rurality of the state may limit social interaction and availability of medical treatment facilities (Brew et al., 2016).
The situation is even more dire for those in farming-related occupations. Farmers often struggle with management stress, utilizing appropriate coping strategies, and accessing mental health resources. They often report lower mental health and well-being scores than those in other occupations but are less likely to seek treatment for physical and mental health concerns (Brew et al., 2016; Hagen et al., 2021). Long, hard days under physically demanding conditions can lead to exhaustion, injury, and even premature death. The mental stress and physical strain on their bodies leads to a higher than average incidence of mental illness and suicide than most other occupations.
Farming has been positively associated with increased rates of psychological distress and mental health conditions (Hagen et al., 2022). Additionally, there may be a stigma around mental illness and treatment as both farmers and those in the Appalachian culture often see it as a weakness to seek help (Velasquez, 2022; Yazd et al., 2019). Self-induced stigma can lead to increased feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, nervousness, and other distress which increases a patient’s discomfort and can decrease perception of their worthiness of treatment. Shame related to a perceived failure may prevent them from discussing their problems with loved ones or seeking treatment (Abbey et al., 2012). Consequently, they are less likely to seek treatment than those in other occupations. Rural areas in West Virginia often lack facilities for treatment, compounding difficulty even if someone is willing to seek assistance.
Farmers may avoid treatment due to stoicism, fear of stigma, social isolation and topophilia (Skaczkowski et al., 2023; Yadz et al., 2019). This study focused on exploring coping strategies, their utilization, and perceptions of mental health among farmers in West Virginia. The mixed methods design utilized a quantitative questionnaire to assess farmer coping strategies based on the BRIEF Cope inventory and qualitative interviews of farmers and ag service providers related to their perceptions of mental health, its treatment and stigma. Outcomes will be used to direct Extension programming to increase the awareness of mental health issues and utilization of services and support programs as well as developing positive coping behaviors
The Impact of West Virginia University Federal Research Grant Funding on the State’s Economy
No full textThis report evaluates the economic impact of federal research funding received by West Virginia University’s four campuses. In 2023, WVU secured 250.2 million to West Virginia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), including 1.00 of federal research spending generates an additional 0.62 in labor income across the state. These findings underscore the vital role of federally funded university research in fostering economic development in West Virginia
Exploring the Positive Mental Health Effects of Participation in College Athletics
No full textAbstract
Exploring the Positive Mental Health Effects of Participation in College Athletics
College students participate in sports for positive physical effects, but does this participation increase the students’ mental health positively, too? This research paper seeks to answer this question to determine how occupational therapists and other professionals working with the population of collegiate athletes can have the best outcomes for their clients. While many studies have been conducted to show how sports participation leads to benefits of individuals’ physical health, few studies have been conducted to determine if participation in sports at the collegiate level benefits students’ mental health as well. Additionally, with the few studies that have been conducted, some researchers claim that athletes increase their mental health with sports participation, but other researchers argue that athletes face additional stress from sports participation and ultimately feel a decrease in mental health. To compile information on the impact that individuals feel in the domain of mental health from the participation of sports, a survey– from the platform of Qualtrics– was given to 38 collegiate athletes in West Virginia. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected and analyzed through the STATS IQ feature of Qualtrics. Overall, some positive mental health benefits were identified from the participants in this study, such as increased social participation and time management skills. However, some participants found that sports participation can decrease their mental health through the addition of stress and limited time to work on academic assignments. Further research should be conducted to include a larger sample size to gain more generalizable results besides just participants from West Virginia
Caregiver Perceptions of GoBabyGo Car Usage
Full text linkThis qualitative study aims to understand caregiver perceptions of their child’s play using a modified ride-on toy car (MROC). Caregivers of children with disabilities participated in a semi-structured interview and a photo-elicitation interview to better understand their beliefs, attitudes, values, and feelings about their children’s play with a MROC. A directed content analysis was used based on constructs of the model for the Process for Establishing Children’s Occupations (PECO; Wiseman et al., 2005). Most constructs of the PECO model, including stages of play and influences on play, were identified within the caregivers’ descriptions of children\u27s play with the MROC. Additional themes beyond the PECO model emerged from the data, including how children\u27s performance skills impacted play with the MROC and how play with the MROC was a co-occupation. Five main themes that emerged from the data were motivations, parent views and values, transformation, performance skills, and co-occupation. Caregivers reported that play with MROCs helped their children with disabilities become more independent in play, develop motor skills, and enjoy typical play experiences. Overall, the results are largely consistent with constructs of the PECO model. Limitations in the children’s performance skills necessitated play with the MROC being a co-occupation that was enjoyed by the family. Results support that play with a MROC promotes skill development in children with disabilities beyond play skills. This study highlights the importance of caregiver facilitation, playmates, and accessible assistive technology for children with disabilities, to enable them to play and be mobile in their environments
AI Questions; The AI Tea
Full text linkThis section includes a series of questions related to AI and the exhibit content, as well as button designs by WVU students and Art in the Libraries committee members, a list of the exhibition sponsors, and information on the exhibition launch panel