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Source Data for Hao Wan, Geunwoong Jeon, Gregory M. Grason, & Maria M. Santore "Sculpting 2D Crystals via Membrane Contractions before and during Solidification"
No full textREADME.txt is included the .zip fil
Dignity in Public Space: Tactical Design for Vulnerable Populations
No full textTraditional methods of the design process are not prepared for the threats presented by the current administration’s dismantling of government agencies and funding that cities rely on. The methods taught in design school are pragmatic and beholden to clients’ wishes, which often design out marginalized and housing-insecure populations. I am proposing an approach that leans on the systems of mutual aid, abolition, and a prospective of existing abundance as a method to utilize the knowledge of people designed out of public space. There are spaces in Northampton that provide civic services that are perceived as conflicting interests to the broader public, but they are unprepared to assist people in times of a climate crisis. Technologies that are affordable and rapidly accessible to use are needed, in contrast to the traditional planning/design processes that are only effective in the long term
Green Play +: Advancing Equitable Play and Environmental Justice through Green Space Design in Marginalized Communities
No full textGrowing awareness of children's cognitive development, access to green spaces, along with an increasing number of areas being categorized with the environmental justice label, continues to shape urban design research, revealing critical gaps in both research and practice concerning these topics. In today’s urban landscapes, green spaces are essential for fostering child development, enhancing community well-being, and addressing environmental inequities. However, marginalized communities—such as those in Springfield, Massachusetts—often face systemic barriers that limit their access to these vital resources.
The Green Play + initiative aims to bridge this gap by integrating vegetation & innovative green space designs with child-centered play environments. This project explores strategies to enhance cognitive development, mitigate environmental challenges, and promote social equity. Utilizing data-driven tools like i-Tree and MassAir while emphasizing participatory design, Green Play + seeks to create sustainable, inclusive urban spaces that empower underserved communities. Through this project, I aim to explore and create designs for parks, playgrounds, and green spaces through a blueprint that can improve the overall conditions in places like the Mason Square neighborhoods in Springfield, MA.
Exposure to green spaces supports child development by promoting physical activity, fostering social connections, reducing environmental hazards, and influencing cognitive processes. Neighborhood greenness—especially features like tree canopies—plays a crucial role in these benefits. Studies have shown that exposure to green space is associated with improved cognitive development in children, partly mediated by reduced exposure to air pollution (Dadvand et al., 2015). Play, in particular, nurtures creativity, imagination, dexterity, and emotional well-being while being essential to healthy brain development.
This master's project investigates how thoughtfully designed playgrounds and open spaces can foster equitable play opportunities for disenfranchised youth in Springfield, MA, and then creates a blueprint for the “Green Play+” initiative that can be incorporated into designs for parks, playgrounds, and green spaces in marginalized communities across the country. The goal is to create aesthetically inviting spaces that encourage child-driven free play, strengthen parent-child bonds, and incorporate the added benefits of “Green Play+”—design strategies that reduce traffic-related air pollution (TRAP), enhance cognitive development, and maximize the environmental advantages of greenness.
By prioritizing equitable access to high-quality play environments, this project aims to reimagine urban green spaces as catalysts for child development, environmental justice, and community resilience. The focus area for the Green Play+ initiative was the Mason Square neighborhood in Springfield, Massachusetts. The McKnight neighborhood is one of 4 in the Mason Square area and is historically disenfranchised despite its rich history
Fish Park Revitalization: Strengthening Social Infrastructure Through Cultural Preservation and Sustainable Design
No full textThe Fish Park Revitalization Project aims to redefine the park as a vital social infrastructure, integrating cultural heritage, community engagement, and environmental sustainability. By enhancing recreational spaces, introducing new amenities, and implementing ecological strategies, the project will transform Fish Park into an inclusive, multifunctional public space that supports social interaction, strengthens community identity, and adapts to Athol's evolving needs, including its anticipated housing growth
UNRAVELING mRNA DYNAMICS: INVESTIGATING mRNA REGULATION AND STABILITY DURING VIRAL-INDUCED RNA DECAY
No full textViruses and their hosts are engaged in a constant evolutionary battle for control of cellular resources. At the heart of this struggle lies the control of cellular gene expression, with the fate of RNA as the ultimate prize. Several viruses, such as Coronaviruses (CoV) and our primary model of study, Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV), employ the strategy of inducing widespread RNA degradation to redistribute gene expression resources. During lytic replication, KSHV encodes a viral endonuclease known as SOX, while Coronaviruses produce the non-structural protein 1 (nsp1), which has been suggested to collaborate with a host endonuclease to induce host RNA decay. In KSHV, SOX expression leads to the degradation of over 70% of cellular messenger RNAs (mRNAs). However, we and others have shown that a select number of transcripts (less than 30%) escape degradation from SOX due to a cis-acting 3' UTR element known as the SOX Resistant Element (SRE). Using our expertise, we investigated RNA decay and stability in these two viruses to highlight how extensive viral-induced RNA decay can shape the fate of infection. In the first chapter, we use AP-MS to explore the widespread host mRNA decay attributed to CoV nsp1 function through protein-protein interactions. In the second chapter, we explore and characterize a KSHV viral homolog of one SRE-bearing transcript Interleukin-6 (hIL-6), known as viral IL-6. Using several molecular techniques, we compare and contrast these two transcripts expression and regulation during viral infection. Finally, in the third chapter, we focus on examining the redistribution of cellular resources, such as RNA-binding proteins, that interact with SRE-bearing transcripts and viral transcripts during viral infection.National Research Service Award T32 GM139789 from the National Institutes of Health and a Smith Spaulding fellowship at UMass.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
Weighing Between Freedom of Speech and Rival Interests in Hustler Magazine Inc. v. Falwell
No full textHustler Magazine Inc. v Falwell was a 1987 landmark case that expanded the scope of First Amendment protections. The Supreme Court ruled that a publication made by Hustler magazine was constitutionally protected, despite containing material that vehemently disparaged televangelist Jerry Falwell. Significantly, this case limited the ability of public figures to recover damages for infliction of emotional distress. Though the Court had previously qualified the extent of free speech, it declined to do so in this instance because factors such as precedent, the history of First Amendment applications, and the consequences of a ruling adverse to Hustler each weighed in the magazine’s favor. This paper analyzes primary sources including oral arguments and Court opinions to demonstrate why Falwell lost the case. In particular, both sides’ arguments are examined through the analytical frameworks established in Philip Bobbitt’s Constitutional Fate, a work which describes multiple avenues for assessing the constitutionality of laws
SNAP Workers: Working People & SNAP Benefits in Massachusetts
Get PDFEstablished by the Food Stamp Act in 1964, SNAP is the country’s largest anti-hunger program. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, provides food assistance to low-income families. The program serves over 41 million people, or 12.3% of U.S. residents. Massachusetts has a higher SNAP rate than the U.S, with 16% of the Massachusetts population receiving SNAP. This report examines workers in Massachusetts who live in households that receive SNAP benefits. The analyses use data from the American Community Survey (ACS), a representative survey administered by the Census Bureau. The report examines the most recent and comprehensive available ACS data, 2019-2023. See the methodological appendix for details
Food Price Stabilization in an Age of Overlapping Emergencies: The case for multilevel buffer stocks
No full textFood price volatility is increasingly affected by overlapping emergencies including climate change, armed conflicts and trade wars. Buffer stocks can stabilize food prices and contribute towards long-term goals such as food sovereignty and sustainable farming. We propose a regional African food reserve comprising regionally grown and imported grain, to stabilize prices over time and across locations as well as to incentivize more sustainable food cultivation in the region. Additionally, we propose global virtual and physical reserves to stabilize the prices of globally traded commodities and support regional reserves
Deformable RF Systems: Advancing Wireless Front-Ends with Flexible Conductive Substrates in Smart Homes and IoT
No full textThe growing adoption of flexible conductive substrates—such as textiles, wallpapers, and conductive paints—presents significant opportunities for enhancing the performance of RF front-end systems in smart homes and IoT environments. This thesis investigates novel techniques that leverage these substrates to enable cost-effective, high-performance wireless systems.
First, we explore how conductive substrates can replace high-precision crystal oscillators in IoT devices by employing frequency pulling techniques, allowing the use of low-cost ceramic oscillators without sacrificing synchronization accuracy. This approach supports multi-static backscatter and synchronized sampling systems, achieving performance comparable to shared-clock systems while significantly reducing cost and power consumption.
Next, we examine the deployment of rigid UHF and VHF antennas embedded in deformable surfaces, such as curtains. While these antennas can be coordinated for array beamforming, the constant deformation of the substrate shifts phase centers and antenna positions, introducing new challenges. We propose a flexible antenna array system that combines RF and optical tracking to compensate for these deformations in real time, demonstrating substantial improvements in beamforming performance and indoor range extension.
Finally, we extend this work to develop a fully flexible antenna array with deformable antenna elements. To address the complexity of shape-shifting antenna geometries, we introduce a novel Deformation-to-EM (Deform2EM) library, which maps antenna deformations to their electromagnetic characteristics. We enable real-time, low-power estimation of array geometry using cellphone images, eliminating the need for expensive EM simulations or additional sensors. Real-world evaluation of this system shows up to a 2× improvement in beamforming performance and a 5× improvement in direction tracking accuracy.
This work advances the state of flexible RF systems, paving the way for efficient and scalable solutions in various environments.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)2030-09-0
Shock-Aware Physics-Guided Fusion-DeepONet Operator for Rarefied Micro-Nozzle Flows
No full textWe present a comprehensive, physics-aware deep learning framework for constructing fast and accurate surrogate models of rarefied, shock-containing micro-nozzle flows. The
framework integrates three key components: (1) a Fusion–DeepONet operator-learning architecture for capturing parameter dependencies, (2) a physics-guided feature space that embeds a shock-aligned coordinate system, and (3) a two-phase curriculum strategy emphasizing high-gradient regions. To demonstrate the generality and inductive bias of the proposed framework, we first validate it on the canonical viscous Burgers’ equation, which exhibits advective steepening and shock-like gradients. The model achieves low relative errors (below 3%) in both interpolation and extrapolation regimes, confirming its robustness and stability before application to high-dimensional micro-nozzle flows. Subsequent evaluations against Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) data across multiple nozzle pressure ratios and geometries show that the proposed model reduces the relative ℓ2 error by approximately 30% compared with classical DeepONet and Fourier Neural Operator baselines, while delivering orders-of-magnitude computational speed-up. The results highlight a generalizable operator-learning paradigm capable of resolving shock-dominated, multiregime rarefied flows with physical consistency and efficiency