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Reflection in First-year Honors Courses: Why We Can’t Take It for Granted
No full textExisting scholarship suggests that intentional reflection, during or shortly following an event, can impact future vocational choices and generate memories that participants can recall years after the undergraduate experience. Inspiring accounts of reflection, decades following honors City as Text experiences, demonstrate the influence that reflective experiences played in vocational formation (Daniel; Schock). Given the community focus of an honors FYS, studying the long-term impact of that experience on alums would be interesting
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Program Profile
No full textUniversity of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth) is a comprehensive, regional campus of the University of Massachusetts system. It is a Carnegie-classified doctoral university of high research activity located in the South Coast region of the state, close to Cape Cod and between the cities of Fall River and New Bedford. The university offers 61 undergraduate majors, 88 minors, 42 master’s degree programs, 17 doctoral programs, and 43 graduate-level certificate programs. These programs are spread across five academic colleges: Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Charlton College of Business, Visual and Performing Arts, and Nursing and Health Sciences. There are also two graduate-only colleges: the School for Marine Sciences and the UMass Law School. The undergraduate enrollment is 5,517 students, and the graduate enrollment is 1,940. Eighty percent of students are Massachusetts residents, 37.8% of enrollment is non-white, and 52% is female. Nearly half of the undergraduate students (48%) live on campus, and 57% are first-generation students. UMass Dartmouth has a 15:1 student-faculty ratio with 381 full-time faculty; 270 are tenured or tenure-track
Transportation Practitioners\u27 Reflections on Addressing Transportation Barriers for Vulnerable Populations in Nebraska
No full textThis study examines transportation planning practices and challenges in Nebraska, with particular attention to how planners and agencies address the needs of vulnerable populations. Using a qualitative approach, thirty-five transportation planners, practitioners, and service providers were interviewed. Participants were selected based on their professional in transportation planning and service delivery. The study explores what institutional and funding barriers planners and practitioners face, and what strategies they consider most effective for improving access and inclusion. Findings reveal that limited funding, fragmented authority, and the absence of a coordinated regional planning framework significantly constrain transportation development across Nebraska. While metropolitan areas such as Lincoln and Omaha demonstrate more structured engagement and inclusion efforts, rural regions often lack the institutional capacity and financial resources to sustain or expand transportation services. This research makes a unique contribution by providing an in-depth understanding of current institutional dynamics, while also identifying potential pathways for building regionally integrated systems and can serve as a foundation for future policy development, and statewide collaboration in Nebraska.
Advisor: Abigail L. Cochra
Improved Rumen Microbiome Interpretation via Empirical Filtration Derived from Known Mock Microbiomes
No full textThe rumen microbiome plays a critical role in ruminant health and performance. As a consequence, many studies investigate microbial community composition using 16S rDNA based sequencing. As such, data quality and data filtering are critical to accurately identify microbial community composition. In this study we use mock communities to empirically select data filtering parameters to reduce artifact populations and compared the effect of filtering using different bioinformatic pipelines using rumen bacterial community data. The filtering parameters identified provides consistent estimates of rumen microbial diversity, regardless of bioinformatic pipeline utilized and provides a more accurate view of microbiome structure and composition.
Advisor: Samodha C. Fernand
The Graphic Shift: Leveraging Superhero Graphica to Un-Ban Critical Conversations in the Secondary English Language Arts Classroom
No full textThis thesis investigates the challenges that books are receiving during an era of social and political turmoil based on their content. Understanding why these books are polarizing for most readers and the general public is in direct connection with finding different books that can harbor the same conversations about dense topics and cultivating connections between students, the text, the world, and themselves. While there has been a search to find alternate books that are not considered political flashpoints,” there has been limited research into the use of superhero graphica in the ELA classroom, especially in connection to utilizing this genre to continue having conversations about heavy and dense topics like having empathy despite trauma, questioning authority figures, and analyzing the ethics of surveillance. The core of this thesis is to show how polarizing books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, and 1984 can be swapped with superhero graphica like Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Marvel’s Runaways: Pride and Joy, and My Hero Academia to continue holding space for these conversations in the classroom. The research in this thesis shows that superhero graphica can hold the same conversations, answer the same questions, and engage students in meaningful activities just as well as the challenged counterpart. These findings suggest that superhero graphica plays a crucial part in the ELA classroom despite its underutilization and long-lasting stigmas. Furthermore, this genre invites students to engage with a nontraditional form of literature, encourages visual literacy, and connects them with stories and characters they might not have experienced elsewhere.
Advisor: Rachael Sha
Modeling the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge Using Integrated Geophysical Analysis
No full textThe Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge (GIFR) is an area of significant geologic interest with anomalously thick crust related to enhanced melt generation from the interaction between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Iceland hotspot. To the northeast of Iceland lies the Jan Mayen Microcontinent (JMMC), which is a continental fragment separated from Greenland during the opening of the Northern Atlantic. The overall extent of the JMMC, especially its southern boundary, remains poorly constrained. The crust beneath the GIFR is believed to be primarily of oceanic affinity. However, a recent discovery of felsic lavas in Iceland led to an alternative hypothesis that implies the possibility of a continental affinity for the GIFR. The proposed “Icelandia” is a sunken continent, underlying the GIFR and JMMC, composed of 3-10 km of mafic magma flows and dykes underlain by up to 30 km of magma-inflated continental crust. Resolving the crustal nature of the GIFR would provide critical information on the development of volcanic rifted margins, divergent boundaries, and melt generation from hot spots. The first objective of this work is to assess the plausibility of the continental hypothesis for the GIFR by integrating multiple geophysical datasets. We utilize published velocity models, gravity and magnetic anomaly data, and other geological datasets to develop simplified models of the GIFR crust and test both continental and oceanic scenarios. The modeling revealed that a continental scenario is as likely as an oceanic one as both describe the potential fields data relatively well. For the oceanic scenario, we also evaluated the Continent-Ocean Boundary (COB) on both sides of GIFR. The COB on the Faroe side remains difficult to constrain. On the Greenland side, we support the interpretation by Yuan et al. (2020), which is further east than published by most tectonic models. The second objective of this study is to reassess the southern boundary of the JMMC. Our analysis suggests that the crust between JMMC and Iceland Plateau is of continental affinity as it has the same signatures as thinned and intruded continental crust on the Greenland margin of the GIFR. Our main conclusion is that we are unable to rule out the possibility of magma-inflated lower continental crust beneath the GIFR.
Advisor: Irina Filin
Coaching Strategies for Instructional Improvement: Social Emotional Learning in the Preschool Classrooms
No full textThis participatory action research (PAR) study explored how Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) preschool instructional coaches develop coaching strategies that support teachers in fostering social-emotional learning (SEL) among young children. Grounded in the collaborative principles of PAR, the study positioned instructional coaches as co-researchers.
The research was conducted within the LPS Department of Early Childhood Education, involving four preschool instructional coaches. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, coaches’ classroom observations, informal teacher-coach conversations, researcher’s observations of coaching sessions, and a group reflection session. Using an iterative analytical approach (Tracy, 2020), the study examined how coaching strategies evolve and the conditions that facilitate or constrain their effectiveness in supporting teachers in building their capacity in SEL instruction.
Findings revealed that the development of coaching strategies centered around shared goal planning, modeling, feedback, and reflection. These are the core components that strengthened both teacher practice and student outcomes. The collaborative PAR process empowered coaches to co-construct knowledge and refine practices that respond to teachers’ needs within authentic early childhood contexts.
The study highlights the significance of instructional coaching as a component of professional learning support for teachers. By integrating practitioner experience with scholarly reflection, this work contributes to a growing body of knowledge on effective instructional coaching for promoting social-emotional competencies in preschool settings.
Advisor: Taeyeon Ki
AI-enabled Robotic Nitrogen Management
No full textNitrogen management in corn agriculture faces economic and environmental challenges, motivating development of precision, site-specific solutions. This dissertation presents AIR-N (AI-Enabled Robotic Nitrogen Management), a novel system that integrates cloud-based artificial intelligence with an autonomous field robot (Flex-Ro) to optimize nitrogen fertilizer application in real time. The research is driven by the need to improve nitrogen use efficiency while reducing leaching and emissions.
Comprehensive architecture (Cloud-E) was designed using Amazon Web Services to ingest multi-modal agronomic data (soil sensors, crop reflectance, weather) and host machine learning models. A Random Forest-based model was trained on historical field data to predict spatially variable nitrogen requirements; it was optimized via AWS SageMaker Neo for deployment on edge hardware. The Flex-Ro robot, equipped with a custom PWM-controlled sprayer system, receives nitrogen prescriptions from Cloud-E and adjusts application rates on-the-go. The sprayer subsystem includes flow sensors and controlled valves enabling feedback control to achieve target rates with high precision.
Field trials at the University of Nebraska’s NTTL Track and ENREEC research farm was conducted to validate system performance. The Cloud-E platform’s recommendations reduced over-application in low-need zones while maintaining yields in high-need areas, demonstrating agronomic efficacy. Real-time control achieved close alignment between prescribed and applied rates, as flowmeter feedback allowed automatic correction of deviations. System latency from cloud decision to actuation was minimal due to edge computing optimizations. Additionally, a generative AI assistant (AgWise LLM) was integrated to automatically summarize field data and provide decision support, illustrating the potential of language models in farm management.
Key contributions of this work include the development of a fully integrated AI robotics platform for nutrient management, demonstration of an edge-deployable machine learning workflow for real-time agricultural decision-making, and successful field validation of autonomous, variable-rate nitrogen application. The results indicate that combining IoT sensing, cloud analytics, and robotics can significantly advance precision agriculture, reducing input waste and environmental impact while sustaining crop productivity.
Advisors: Joe Luck and Santosh Pitl
Investigating Programming Behaviors to Understand Student Engagement and Experience in Introductory Programming Courses
No full textIntroductory programming courses are foundational to developing students’ problem-solving abilities and shaping their persistence in computing pathways. Engagement with programming tasks plays a central role in student learning and experience. Many research measures, including self-reports and code submissions, offer only a limited view of student engagement with programming tasks. This dissertation leverages programming process data, consisting of keystrokes and compilation events, to capture the programming process as it unfolds and to investigate observable programming behaviors. Guided by educational theories, three studies examine how students’ programming behaviors vary across instructional and assessment contexts, how they relate to motivational profiles, and how specific behaviors, such as code pasting, can support or hinder learning. Across these studies, programming process data reveals patterns in persistence, pausing, error resolution, and reliance on external resources. The findings suggest that student motivations are enacted in engagement behaviors and that inauthentic engagement during assignments—especially over-reliance on AI—can undermine learning and leave students unprepared for secure programming assessments. By connecting observable programming behaviors with established educational frameworks, this dissertation provides empirical evidence to advance the computing education literature, while informing instructional design to promote authentic engagement and success in computer science.
Advisor: Leen-Kiat So
Evaluating Fall and Spring Planted Cover Crops for Integrated Management of Herbicide Resistant Palmer Amaranth and Effect on Soil Health
No full textHerbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) pose a severe threat to agronomic crop productivity in the United States, including corn and soybean production in Nebraska. Therefore, there is an urgent need for diversified and sustainable management approaches. Integrating cover crops (CCs) with herbicide programs represents a promising strategy to achieve Palmer amaranth suppression, sustain crop yields, and contribute to long-term soil health in irrigated corn–soybean production systems in Nebraska.
A meta-analysis of 41 studies and 595 paired observations demonstrated that CCs reduced Amaranthus spp. density and biomass by 37–59% depending on the growing season, with grasses and mixtures providing the most consistent and reliable suppression. Building on these findings, multi-year field trials in Nebraska evaluated early spring–planted oat and barley CCs in soybean production. Oat consistently produced greater biomass than barley and, when combined with herbicide applications, reduced Palmer amaranth density and biomass by more than 90%, while maintaining soybean yields comparable to those in no-cover crop systems.
Complementary studies assessed root biomass production by spring-planted CCs and their effect on soil properties. Total root biomass production across years in the 0–30 cm soil depth was 1,402 kg ha–1 for oat, 1,166 kg ha–1 for barley, and 270 kg ha–1 for no CC (NCC). Despite the significant amount of biomass input, neither oat nor barely CC affected soil properties such as bulk density, soil sorptivity, particulate organic matter, soil organic C, nutrients, and microbial properties relative to NCC after 3 year of the study. However, CCs had 7–8% higher proportion of 0.25–0.5 mm aggregates, and 8–10% lower proportion of \u3c 0.25 mm aggregates in year 3. This suggests that spring-planted CCs can improve soil aggregation but only in medium-term. Long-term (\u3e15 yr) no-till management history, fine-textured soil, and high soil organic matter (3.7%) at the site may explain the limited CC effects.
Research on planting-green strategies in corn further demonstrated that delaying cereal rye termination from planting corn to the V3 growth stage increased biomass up to 10,888 kg ha−1 and reduced Palmer amaranth density, biomass, and seed production by more than 99% compared with no cover crop. High cereal rye biomass provided weed suppression comparable to herbicide programs, while low-biomass conditions required herbicide inclusion for effective Palmer amaranth control. Corn yield was unaffected by delayed termination, likely due to irrigation and split nitrogen management.
Together, this body of research highlights the potential of cover crops as a cornerstone of integrated Palmer amaranth management systems. By strategically selecting cover crop species, optimizing termination timing, and integrating with herbicides, producers can effectively suppress Palmer amaranth, sustain crop productivity, and build a foundation for improved soil health.
Advisor: Amit Jhal