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Peer ethnic racial socialization's associations with coping with discrimination
Get PDFEthnic racial socialization (ERS) messages play a prominent role in shaping how minoritized youth navigate and cope with racially salient experiences, but there is a dearth of information on ERS messages from the context of peers, or how these messages relate to the use of coping strategies. A sample of 321 ethnically diverse minoritized college students (M [subscript age] = 18.79, SD = 1.26, range = 17-25) reported on frequency of culturally relevant discrimination coping strategies, along with frequency of ERS messages with either a same-ethnic (N = 217, 67.6% of broader sample) or cross-ethnic (N =104, 32.4% of broader sample) peer. Results of path analysis models indicate that peer ERS messages are related to discrimination coping strategies, with associations differing for those with a same-ethnic peer and those with a cross-ethnic peer. Interpretations of the findings are explored.Psycholog
Painting and writing in the first person : the monochromatic effect in Clyfford Still, Anne Truitt, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, and Suzan Frecon
Get PDFThe following dissertation addresses a selection of paintings and writings by the American artists Clyfford Still (1904-1980), Anne Truitt (1921-2004), Sylvia Plimack Mangold (b. 1938), and Suzan Frecon (b. 1941). In particular, I examine paintings by these artists that approach an abstract, monochromatic state and that evoke what I term the monochromatic effect. These are paintings that, despite their preservation of the use of multiple hues, read as predominated by one hue in particular. Throughout my research, I note that my sensitivity to the phenomenological effects of Still’s, Truitt’s, Plimack Mangold’s, and Frecon’s monochromatic effect paintings is increased by my readings of their writings and other lexical records. I examine the hypotheses, insights, and theories each of these artists advance with their studio practices and their writing practices. At times, the ideas advanced by the artists in their artwork intersect with ideas advanced by the artists in their writings. At other times, ideas advanced by the writing and studio practices run parallel or diverge from one another entirely. I argue that Still’s, Truitt’s, Plimack Mangold’s, and Frecon’s writing and studio practices enrich each other and that both creative and expressive outlets are essential to understanding the overall aesthetic impact of their oeuvres.
Throughout my dissertation, I conduct an indexical analysis of these dual outputs. This mode of interpretation is one that allows me to address written words and painted images (especially abstract, monochromatic ones) as parallel sign systems. As such, I examine these written and painted constructions in terms of what they teach me about the conscious or unconscious motivations, actions, and affinities of artists such as Still, Truitt, Plimack Mangold, and Frecon. I conceptualize each artists’ dual painting and writing practices as frameworks or forms of expression and critical analysis that allow these artists to produce primary-source documentation of their intellectual and aesthetic ideas and theories. One such idea shared in common between each artist I study is the notion that their abstract art embodies not specific content but a form, structure, or configuration onto which content is projected by the artist and audience alike.Art Histor
Interpretable generative models for precipitation forecasting
Get PDFAccurate and reliable rainfall forecasting is crucial for making informed decisions across various domains, particularly in climate science and agricultural management. We aimed to enhance the explainability of generative models used in climate science applications, focusing on short to medium-range forecasting. Noticing that several of these models use vision transformer backbones, we adapted an explainability approach initially developed to explore the parameter space of Large Language Models (LLMs). Our experiments reveal that specific layers of vision transformers are particularly effective in differentiating between classes. These findings demonstrate the model’s capability to capture high-level concepts consistently across layers, with the middle and final layers playing a critical role in distinguishing between different rainfall rates. Our approach proves to be generalizable to other visual concepts, as evidenced by our additional experiments on distinguishing between flower types. This research advances the interpretability of generative models in climate applications and offers a framework applicable to other domains utilizing vision transformers, thereby fostering greater transparency and trust in AI-driven forecasting systems.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
Dear Future Self, What Do You Really Want?: How College Women's Perceptions of Gender Roles Influence Their Outlook on Career, Romance, and Motherhood
Get PDFFollowing college graduation, it is standard within the United States for women to consider their futures in terms of their career paths, romantic relationships, and motherhood. For centuries, traditional gender roles have been the country's norm. This cultivated a social structure in which women and men had separate, specific roles based upon the biological characteristics of the genders. Now, the mindset of the country is shifting towards acceptance of egalitarian gender roles. Inevitably, how college women view the roles of men and women will influence what they want for their futures. To understand this, I conducted one-time interviews with ten heterosexual college senior women who attend the University of Texas at Austin. The qualitative data collected shows that these women have a clear preference for men and women to behave in an egalitarian manner in every aspect that was explored. The women place emphasis on their desire for a romantic partner that does not expect them to adhere to the traditional gendered role of a woman. They believe that by having an egalitarian relationship dynamic, they can avoid gender double standards, which will allow them to more effectively balance their future careers and motherhood. Yet, the majority are still willing to allow their commitment to motherhood to alter, usually decrease, their commitment to their careers. Additionally, connection with others, whether that be achieved through their jobs or their families and friends, was key to a happy future.Plan II Honors Progra
Does Cobalt Hexamine induce DNA-DNA Attraction? Investigations to Understand Nucleic Acid Compaction in the Cell
Get PDFNucleic acid compaction is a fundamental process in all living systems, exemplified by the tight
packaging of DNA into chromatin in eukaryotic nuclei, as well as nucleic acid compaction in the
viral capsid. The strong negative charge on the DNA backbone must be mitigated by positively
charged species, including polyvalent ions and proteins, to achieve the necessary close packing.
To dissect the electrostatic interactions driving DNA compaction, the xHEED (X-linking of
Helices to measure Electrostatic Effects at Distance) method, previously developed in the Russell
Lab, was used to measure distant-dependent interhelical encounter frequencies, and the atomic
forces that mitigate these mechanisms as previous poisson-boltzmann models did a poor job of it.
Rate constants were measured that reflect the equilibrium constant for transient DNA-DNA
encounters under varying ionic conditions. Using the xHEED method, DNA-DNA crosslinking
interactions were compared to DNA-Aldrithiol, a neutral molecule, to understand the effect of
positive ions mitigating negative charge repulsion from the DNA Backbones. Previous work
indicated that the maximal DNA-Aldrithiol neutral rate constant was 1.3 x 104 M-1s-1. This
work indicated that crosslinking at moderate millimolar concentrations of Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ not only
fully screen interhelical repulsion but also induce net attractions at higher concentrations,
eventually reaching a plateau at 3.5 x 104 M-1s-1, faster than the neutral reaction, where further
increases in Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ concentration have no additional effect. However, new work conducted
in the lab indicates that the neutral rate constant at lower concentrations of Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ is lower
than the maximal rate constant, indicating that there is still net attraction induced by Co(NH₃)₆³⁺
at lower concentrations, removing support for the net-neutral screening regime. Future
side-by-side comparisons between cross-linked DNA and aldrithiol-mediated reactions at the
same concentration of Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ are needed to fully clarify the impact of Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ on
electrostatic interactions and the potential existence of an attractive regime. Measuring
DNA-DNA crosslinking and comparing it to DNA-Aldrithiol at lower concentrations of
Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ will clarify if Co(NH₃)₆³⁺ can induce attraction at lower concentrations of trivalent
ions. This will refine understanding of in vivo DNA Compaction and provide further
understanding on the role of multivalent compounds that naturally exist in the nucleus, such as
spermine and spermidine.Plan II Honors Progra
Fifty Years of Antone's: A Real-Life Case Study in Timeline Exhibit Design
Get PDFIn August of 2024, I was hired by the company MuseWork Exhibits as an interpretive planner, specifically to work on a museum for the iconic music venue Antone's. In addition to general planning responsibilities, I was tasked with developing a timeline of the venue's history. I chose to make this experience the subject of my thesis. In the treatise, I document my process and reflect on the challenges that emerged, exploring broader questions about the purpose of timelines and the evolving responsibilities of museums. My creative product — the timeline — appears in the form of a coded text script, which will guide the timeline's design and fabrication. This thesis was a practical introduction to the exhibit space, where stories become physical reality.Anthropolog
Bullets, Ballots, and Backsliding: Mexico's Democracy in the 2024 Super Election Year
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the current status of Mexico’s democracy and whether it
has reflected patterns of democratic backsliding or resilience since 2018, amid the
2024 ‘Super Election Year on the global stage. Since Mexico is seen as a leader in
Latin America, and their presidential elections in 2024 were to date, the most
historic elections yet, this will be the case study examined. Using a mixed-methods
approach, this research combines qualitative data of definitions and indicators of
backsliding and resilience with quantitative data from expert coder surveys, such as
V-Dem to reveal the various patterns of backsliding. The findings indicate that
executive aggrandizement is the leading driver of democratic backsliding in Mexico
and has been since 2018, the year that the Morena party came into power. This
study demonstrates the significance of conditions in which democratic resilience
can thrive from civil societies, political competition, and checks on executive power.Plan II Honors Progra
A new civic theatre : organizational transformation through community engagement
Get PDFWhen large, historically white, U.S. regional theatres engage in deliberate actions of community-based art, journalists and scholars are quick to point out the benefits these experiences offer to their participants. These scholars place less emphasis on the ways in which these programs might change the organizations that produce them. This thesis explores the impact of community engagement programs that maintain steady relationships over a long time on large regional theatres, using Dallas Theater Center’s Public Works Dallas as a case study. In this thesis I analyze interviews, surveys, artifacts and personal observations from four months of participation in order to demonstrate the ways in which Public Works Dallas has changed Dallas Theater Center. Using organizational theorists, financial analysis, and a cultural studies approach, I focus my attention on three main aspects of this impact: organizational culture, stakeholder investment, and creative expression. I argue that Public Works Dallas uses large-scale participatory action to inspire double-loop learning at Dallas Theater Center. By refocusing attention on the organization’s mission and values, Public Works has transitioned from non-core to core programming and cultivated a dedicated group of stakeholders. While Public Works Dallas remains rooted to pre-scripted programming delivered to them by their parent program in New York, Public Works is driving an expansion of DTC’s organizational capacity and a desire for originality. This thesis carries with it implications for how large theatres, grounded in commitments to “artistic quality,” might grow and embrace a closer connection to their communities.Theatre and Danc
Colorblind University : racial inequity and higher education in the twentieth century
Get PDF“Colorblind University” is an institution-focused study arguing that student activism and university policy during the civil rights and Black Power Movements forged a colorblind intellectual movement that fundamentally reshaped interpretations of race on campus and beyond the Ivory Tower. While other scholars have viewed colorblind logic as a concept that developed alongside the historical memory of the Black civil rights movement, I argue that race-neutral logic is rooted in the institutional racism of Plessy-era sociopolitical thought. Through admissions policies, departmental status, and curriculum design, I trace the evolution of race-neutral ideologies at four universities that reflect the colorblind intellectual movement: Duke University, San Francisco State University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Texas at Austin. Through a critical race lens, I interpret a range of documents and primary source material – such as student organizational records, university policy, state legislation, and legal decisions – to position colorblindness as an intellectual movement that developed through social, political, and legal notions of race. Beginning with late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century segregation policies and social customs, I argue that civil rights advocates and legal strategists adopted colorblindness to eliminate racial categories and, therefore, anti-Black discrimination. During the Black Power movement, however, predominately white institutions fortified race-neutral policies and practices to counter Black students’ race-conscious demands for equity and inclusion. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, politically conservative Americans adopted colorblindness to express support for racial equality without sacrificing individual rights. At the turn of the century, colorblind logic, the dominant interpretation of race, framed the “post-racial society” in the United States. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates the connection between colorblindness and sociopolitical thought to illuminate how this mutual relationship determines views of race, society, politics, and culture.Histor
An exploration of translanguaging as a culturally sustaining pedagogy to foster biliteracy
Get PDFA wide range of research has shown that multilingualism has social and academic advantages. Despite this fact, much education of multilingual learners focuses on transitioning students to English rather than developing students’ biliteracies. Using nested case study design and discourse analysis, I explore translanguaging as both as a linguistic practice and culturally sustaining pedagogy to develop biliteracy in fourth-grade bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. This study presents an alternative viewpoint on the education of multilingual students, challenges monolingual language ideologies, and highlights translanguaging as a transformative pedagogy. This dissertation is comprised of three articles that represent a theoretical and empirical analysis of translanguaging. The first article has two goals. First, it presents an overview of translanguage as a theory and outlines tensions in how translanguaging is conceived. Second, it presents a systematic review of research on translanguaging in writing workshop in bilingual and ESL elementary classrooms. The second article explores the ways that the teacher and students in the bilingual classroom use translanguaging in one-on-one conferences in writing workshop. The third article highlights how a monolingual teacher enacts translanguaging pedagogy and the student writing products that are possible when a teacher fosters an environment that allows students to make linguistic choices in their writing based on their audience. Read together, these three articles address possibilities and tensions within translanguaging pedagogy. In addition, in terms of translanguaging as a linguistic practice, they illuminate the ways that language ideology impacts language use. The articles represent a close study of translanguaging in action and the theoretical and research underpinnings of those actions. The articles challenge educators and researchers to take an expansive and exclusive stance regarding how to educate multilingual students, both in bilingual and ESL classrooms.Curriculum and Instructio