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6.8 NGL Reflection Anthology
No full textNext Generation Leaders Anthology EntreatyThis entreaty was created as part of The Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology summit (February 23-26, 2025) in Pacific Grove, CA.One outcome of the 2025 Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology Summit was affirming the next generation of leaders in biotechnology. The Next Generation Leaders (NGL) program supported young- to mid-career leaders seeking to contribute to and lead towards better biotic futures. Our cohort of Summit attendees voiced their visions for the future of biotechnology – many of which are reflected in this Entreaty. This Entreaty is an anthology of voices, reflections, poetry, prose, and original artwork from Next Generation Leaders. We choose not to write a consensus statement, instead supporting each individual voice and vision stand on its own through an anthology entreaty
Framing Árainn
No full textFraming Árainn explores the relationship between architecture and landscape in Ireland, using the Aran Islands, specifically the island of Árainn, as a case study to examine how built interventions can frame and enhance cultural landscapes. Drawing inspiration from Ireland’s historic round towers and stone follies—structures that engage with their surroundings through form, materiality, and perspective—this project proposes five contemporary architectural interventions on Árainn that respond to the island’s unique terrain and heritage.
The five forms—Mound, Trench, Vault, Labyrinth, and Tower—are carefully embedded within the limestone landscape, positioned to frame key views and create spaces for reflection. The interventions are designed to integrate with the island’s topography and encourage new ways of experiencing its vast, rugged environment. Constructed from locally sourced stone, these structures blend with their surroundings and incorporate traditional Irish building practices found on the island.
Rather than imposing on the landscape, these interventions frame it. By using stone and simple forms, they resonate with the island’s geology and history, offering a way to engage with the vastness of the island through a series of intimate, curated experiences
In Situ Modification of Bacterial Surfaces for Drug Delivery Applications
No full textRecently, chemical biology strategies for modifying the surface of bacteria have emerged to facilitate a variety of bioengineering applications. This thesis describes the adaptation of several related strategies for modifying the peptidoglycan (PGN) of commensal or pathogenic bacteria in situ for the purposes of drug delivery and, ultimately, host immunomodulation. In the first of two projects, I describe a novel oral prodrug consisting of the corticosteroid budesonide conjugated via an ester bond to a synthetic stem peptide that can integrate into the PGN of commensal colonic gut bacteria and release active drug into the local space, thereby creating a long-acting depot. This system seeks to capitalize on the efficacy and rapid onset of action of oral corticosteroids in treating ulcerative colitis while mitigating the restrictive side effects associated with prolonged systemic exposure. In the second project, I investigate several strategies for incorporating an accessible dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) “click” group onto the surface of Staphylococcus aureus for the downstream engraftment of the immunostimulatory protein, IgG3-Fc, and other sensitive cargo. Taken together, this work expands the arsenal, understanding, and medical application space of chemical biology-enabled strategies for bacterial surface modification
After Mies: A Machine for Generating Urbanism
No full textA sixth extension to the Caroline Wiess Law Building at the MFAH. This building focuses on the renewal and regeneration of the museum campus' public qualities
4.3 Synthetic Cells for Environmental Release
No full textThis entreaty was created as part of The Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology summit (February 23-26, 2025) in Pacific Grove, CA.This report summarizes discussions about the intersection of synthetic cells and beyond-containment biotechnologies, highlighting the need to differentiate between replicating/evolving and non-replicating/non-evolving synthetic cells due to their varying risk profiles and containment challenges. It emphasizes the potential of non-replicating synthetic cells as a safer, more controllable platform with minimized genetic instability and enhanced biosafety features, while still acknowledging the potential for DNA transfer to environmental organisms. The report calls for developing methods to characterize risks associated with synthetic cell deployment, establishing a classification framework based on potential harms, and fostering public trust through proactive engagement, transparency, and appropriate regulatory guidelines
Emplaced, Not Replaced: A Social Life of Vietnamese Mini-Mall
No full textAsiatowns in North America are serving a community that’s much more than a small minority. It is neighborhoods like Asiatown that merge one culture with myriads of other cultures that comprise a diverse way of life.
However, they seem to be easily erased. Predominantly composed of family-owned businesses, they are susceptible to marginalization and displacement. Their limited visibility in mainstream society and slow adaptation to evolving socio-economic trends often reduce them to superficial symbols of multiculturalism in public discourse. My thesis endeavors to maintain ownership, amplify visibility, and enhance adaptability for these communities.
Being a unique site in the Vietnamese sector in Bellaire, the project addresses a universal global issue. The current mini-malls are a hybridization of American modern strip mall features and Vietnamese mercantile culture. Thus, the thesis explores the negotiation between a generic real estate culture and underlying cultural assumptions
Equity and Efficiency in Education
No full textMy dissertation consists of three essays on education.
This essay examines the impact of class rank disclosure policies on high school students' course choices, focusing on math course-taking. Using a large dataset from Texas school districts, this study develops a dynamic structural model of student decision-making under imperfect information, incorporating Bayesian belief updating about students' own abilities and their cohort's average ability based on GPA and class rank signals. Our analysis reveals three key findings: students face a cost of effort in taking weighted math, with this cost being weaker for higher-achieving students; weighted math tends to boost the academic standing of high achievers but may diminish the standing of low achievers; and rank disclosure can have a discouragement effect, with students perceiving strong cohort performance opting for regular math over weighted math. I explore the effects of rank non-disclosure policies, including full non-disclosure (where students never learn their rank) and lagged disclosure (where rank is revealed after course decisions). Counterfactual simulations show that removing rank information increases advanced course-taking among high achievers but only under full non-disclosure. Our quasi-experimental analysis of a staggered implementation of a rank non-disclosure policy further supports these findings. These findings are explained by students perceiving their rank as more extreme when they do not have access to it, leading more ``average" students to overestimate their rank and opt for weighted math. This does not occur under lagged disclosure, as students continue to learn about their cohort through rank signals, refining their perceptions and making course choices based on more accurate beliefs.
The second essay develops a framework to analyze the impact of between-school segregation on within-school segregation. I model students' course choices as a game of incomplete information, incorporating inter-student and student-teacher interactions. Using idiosyncratic variation in student composition across cohorts in Texas high schools, I find that Black and low SES students receive less encouragement from teachers as their representation increases, suggesting weaker student-teacher interactions. Conversely, Hispanic and female students receive more encouragement with increased representation. White and academically high-performing students are less likely to enroll in college-prep courses as their representation grows, suggesting higher inter-student competition. Additionally, higher expected college-prep enrollment in a cohort discourages students from enrolling, though stronger within-group coordination incentives exist among White, Hispanic, and female students. Policy simulations using an entropy index support the segregation paradox, indicating that racial disparities in course-taking widen in integrated schools. These findings suggest merit in exploring policies like all-girls schools, race-separate courses, and SES desegregation to promote equity in course-taking.
The third essay proposes a structural redefinition of childcare deserts—areas lacking sufficient access to affordable, high-quality childcare—pose major challenges to both labor force participation and early childhood development. Existing methods for identifying these deserts typically rely on provider capacity and population counts but overlook household preferences and latent demand. This paper introduces a structural framework that redefines childcare deserts from the perspective of a social planner seeking to maximize enrollment in high-quality care while maintaining market sustainability. Implementing the framework requires estimating household-level demand functions, calibrating the social planner’s preferences, and solving for optimal supply-side interventions using scalable greedy algorithms. Analysis of administrative data from Texas reveals that disadvantaged families value quality and are willing to travel farther to access it. Targeted investments—particularly quality upgrades—can meaningfully reduce access disparities. Compared to existing approaches, our method identifies intervention sites that yield greater increases in high-quality childcare enrollment, offering a theoretically grounded, data-driven tool for spatially targeting childcare infrastructure
Leveraging Photoactive Molecules to Study Amyloid-β Aggregates and Diffusion of Two-dimensional Nanomaterials
No full textPhotoactive molecules are practical for the use as photoluminescence probes, reactants for photochemical reactions and so on. This thesis will cover the application of photoactive molecules to investigate two main topics: amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates and hydrodynamics of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. Chapter 1 summarizes the general concepts in the thesis: photoactive probes, Aβ peptide, and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets. Section 1.1 will outline the logic for selecting d6 transition metal complexes to study Aβ aggregation and rhodamine B-based fluorescent surfactant to visualize the h-BN nanosheet diffusion. Section 1.2 will focus on the significance of the Aβ aggregation study in developing potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Section 1.3 will highlight the importance of understanding the hydrodynamics of h-BN nanosheets to fabricate macroscopic materials. Chapters 2-6 describe the experimental works on the topic discussed in Chapter 1. Chapters 2-4 are the quantitative binding study of ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes on Aβ fibrils using photoluminescence spectroscopy. Chapter 5 studies the photochemical reaction of a rhenium(I) carbonyl complex and Aβ. Chapter 6 investigates the hydrodynamics of h-BN nanosheets, which are tagged with rhodamine B-based fluorescent surfactant, using fluorescence microscopy. Chapter 7 presents a conclusion and summarizes the key findings from three main topics discussed in this thesis
Tracking the Black Diaspora along the U.S. Gulf Coast during Slavery: Texas and New Orleans
No full textThe SlaveVoyages.org project has continued to make available records on the traffic of enslaved people to the Americas, especially in the intra-American traffic. Recently, we have focused on pairing images of manifests of the slave voyages with voyage IDs in our database so that the public will be able to easily access the images for their own research. We also aim to strengthen the credibility of our database entries by making our sources clearly available
Development of New Organic Reactions Using Sustainable Metal Photocatalytic Systems
Get PDFProcesses in green chemistry have become increasingly important in organic
synthesis as we seek to step away from rare and expensive metals, harsh reaction
conditions, and hazardous waste generation. The motivation of this work is
developing new methods using mild, sustainable photocatalysts by leveraging
recent advances in accessing and functionalizing carbon-centered radicals.
Chapter 1 details progress with Vitamin B12 (VB12) photocatalysis,
emphasizing its applications in cooperative catalysis. Progress toward green
synthetic methods using VB12 is discussed as well as the typical reactivity of VB12
both as a nucleophile and radical generator via C-Co bond homolysis.
Chapter 2 describes three VB12 photocatalytic systems. Initially, we explore
mild terminal olefin formation via halogen elimination. This reactivity was
extrapolated to a novel 2,3-elimination reaction by incorporating a Co(II) salen
cocatalyst. Following this, we explored epoxide reactivity under varying VB12-
photocatalyzed conditions. Utilizing a thiol HAT donor, we allow Markovnikov
alcohol formation following mild epoxide ring-opening. Minor change allows
epoxide deoxygenation, forming terminal olefins. All mentioned reactions proceed
under relatively mild conditions, furnishing high-value products and tolerate a wide
range of functional groups otherwise incompatible with established reactions
utilizing harsher conditions, demonstrating opportunities for VB12-photocatalysis
and cooperative catalysis.
Chapter 3 discusses the properties and reactivity of tetrabutylammonium
decatungstate (TBADT), a photoactive polyoxometalate capable of generating
carbon-centered radicals under mild conditions. Here we explore the process of
TBADT excitation, its use in C-H activation and green chemistry processes, and
recent examples of TBADT photocatalyzed systems. The increasing application in
co-operative photocatalytic systems is also discussed.
Chapter 4 discloses our recent addition to TBADT co-operative
photocatalysis in hydrofunctionalization of terminal olefins using inert solvent
molecules. Leveraging a low TBADT loading of 1 mol % and a cheap thiol co-catalyst,
we see excellent selectivity in our product formation and a notable tolerance of
otherwise reactive sites under TBADT photocatalysis.
Overall, our newly developed methods expand the toolkit of synthetic
chemists, allowing for easy access to highly desirable radical intermediates under
mild reaction conditions. By exploring and expanding the known reactivity of
cobalt- and tungsten-based catalysts, we provide synthetic chemists cheap and
sustainable alternatives in functionalization of important compounds