UTSA Runner Research Press (Univ. of Texas at San Antonio)
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Marketing in the Digital Age: Essays on Technology, Innovation, and New Venture Success
No full textThis dissertation explores technology's transformative role in business innovation through two complementary essays. The research examines how digital technologies reshape organizational practices and drive success in the contemporary marketplace. The first essay, "Marketers with Range for the Digital Age," investigates how marketers' diverse functional backgrounds (range of experience) impact new venture success. Through empirical analysis of U.S. ventures from 2018-2022, the study reveals that marketing departments with higher range of functional experiences help secure increased venture capital funding, particularly when supported by diverse marketing technologies and as their new ventures mature in age. The research introduces "range of experience" as a new construct for evaluating marketing professionals and demonstrates how it complements digital marketing technology in driving venture outcomes. The second essay, "The Role of AI in Augmenting Customer-Centric Innovation in Hyperconnected Environments," develops a conceptual framework addressing challenges in new product development (NPD) processes. It proposes generative AI integration across NPD stages to enhance customer-centric innovation—defined as innovation driven by cross-functional teams leveraging data to understand unique customer needs. The framework identifies organizational conditions conducive to successful AI implementation and establishes groundwork for future research.
Together, these essays illuminate how organizations can strategically navigate digital transformation to maintain competitiveness in rapidly evolving markets, whether through leveraging diverse professional experiences or implementing AI-enhanced innovation processes.Marketin
Elevating Latina Voices and Experiences in the STEM High School Ecosystem
No full textThe purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to uncover Latinas lived experiences, through their voices, to understand STEM identity development in a STEM high school. Using figured worlds as a theoretical framework, the focus was on the girls’ memories of making their way through high school. The perspective facilitated a deeper understanding of the girls lived experiences; it assisted in articulating and amplifying Latina voice and stories of identity development in high school. The methods of inquiry included phenomenological reflection on data elicited from girls in their senior year at a STEM high school during interviews in pursuit of the following research question: How do Latinas engage in their figured world of high school to potentially author a STEM identity? The goal of this research was to explore the lived experiences of Latinas in the figured world of a STEM high school ecosystem to understand how they authored a STEM identity. In this study, I employed a qualitative, phenomenological design to understand Latina experiences in a South Texas STEM high school.Educational Leadership and Policy Studie
Sometimes it pays to be a woman in STEM: The innterplay of gender and minority status in STEM earnings
No full textThere is growing evidence that a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) offers the highest wages in the U.S. economy. Recent data showed that the median annual wage for all STEM occupations is 46,680 for non-STEM jobs (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024). Despite the increasing demand for STEM talent and the generous offerings of the degree, limited scholarship exists on how racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds intersect with earning potential. Thus, this study will use Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) to understand whether a STEM graduate’s salary is influenced by their gender, major/degree, and minority status.Higher Education Administratio
Los Tejanos: The Ranching Experience, Elements of Ranching through Time
No full textBased on Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills, Seventh GradeLos Tejanos: The Ranching Experience explores the legacy of ranching from a unique cultural perspective and offers students a glimpse into what life was like for people working and thriving on Texas ranches. This resource guide provides students with learning activities that give them the opportunity to engage with the past, where they will refine critical thinking skills while learning about the value of work as an aspect of Tejano culture. The contents of this guide are based on Social Studies and English Language Arts and Reading TEKS for grades 7, but some activities may be modified for lower or higher grades
From Monuments to Markets: The Neoliberalization of the UNESCO Heritage Mission
No full textThis thesis examines the transformation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites from culturally sacred places into sites of economic exploitation under neoliberal frameworks. Focusing on Venice, Machu Picchu, and the Taj Mahal, this research highlights how mass tourism is driven by globalization, privatization, and deregulation, and has reshaped the function and meaning of heritage across the three sites. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the study integrates temporal visitor trends from the various sites UNESCO designation years of 1983-2022 and 1987-2022, assessments of residents’ emotions towards tourism, the erosion the sites, of and the evaluation of socio-economic consequences of heritage commodification. The application of Doxey’s Irridex Model reveals how tourism growth curate's resident irritation and antagonism as communities face displacement, the loss of authenticity, and unequal access to tourism revenue. This thesis reveals that UNESCO’S mission that accommodates neoliberal economics favoring foreign direct investment has led to a redefined UNESCO mission, at the expense of preservation and community well-being. Political Science and Geograph
Environments That Boost Creativity: AI-Generated Living Geometry
No full textGenerative AI leads to designs that prioritize cognition, emotional resonance, and health, thus offering a tested alternative to current trends. In a first AI experiment, the large language model ChatGPT-4o generated six visual environments that are expected to boost creative thinking for their occupants. The six test cases are evaluated using Christopher Alexander’s 15 fundamental properties of living geometry as criteria, as well as ChatGPT-4o, to reveal a strong positive correlation. Living geometry is a specific type of geometry that shows coherence across scales, fractal structure, and nested symmetries to harmonize with human neurophysiology. The human need for living geometry is supported by interdisciplinary evidence from biology, environmental psychology, and neuroscience. Then, in a second AI experiment, ChatGPT-4o was asked to generate visual environments that suppress creativity for comparison with the cases that boost creative thinking. Checking these negative examples using Alexander’s 15 fundamental properties, they are almost entirely deficient in living geometry, thus confirming the diagnostic model. Used together with generative AI, living geometry therefore offers a useful method for both creating and evaluating designs based on objective criteria. Adopting a hybrid epistemological framework of AI plus living geometry as a basis for design uncovers a flaw within contemporary architectural practice. Dominant design styles, rooted in untested aesthetic preferences, lack the empirical validation required to address fundamental questions of spatial quality responsible for human creativity.Mathematic
Exposure of Terrestrial Birds to Microplastics: The Effects of Ecological Traits
No full textMicroplastic (MP) pollution is an emerging global concern, yet little is known about the exposure of terrestrial bird species to MPs or how species-specific traits influence their exposure. This study used a traits-based approach to investigate the relationship between foraging strategies (defined by diet type and feeding behavior) and MP ingestion in terrestrial birds. Gastrointestinal (GI) tracts from 113 birds representing nine species were collected in Texas and analyzed for MPs using potassium hydroxide digestion, vacuum filtration, stereomicroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and heat tests. MPs were found in 65% of birds, with individual MP counts ranging from 0 to 20. Average MP counts varied significantly by species, with ground-foraging omnivores such as the Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) exhibiting the highest ingestion rates (χ̅ = 5.92 MPs per bird), and foliage-gleaning insectivores such as the Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) having the lowest (χ̅ = 0.42 MPs per bird). The increased MP exposure in Great-tailed Grackles corresponds to their broad dietary range. Additionally, the Great-tailed Grackles forage within urban and agricultural regions where MPs accumulate in high concentrations in the soil. Conversely, Nashville Warblers have less direct contact with MP-contaminated soil due to foraging for food in the mid-to-upper canopies and a narrower insectivorous diet. Across all species, fibers were the predominant type of MP (75%), with polyester identified as the most frequently occurring polymer. These findings emphasize that foraging strategy significantly affects MP exposure in terrestrial birds and provide valuable insights into species-specific vulnerabilities and exposure pathwaysIntegrative Biolog
Navigating Cultural Crossroads: A Critical Qualitative Study of Underrepresented Desi Administrators in Higher Education Leadership
No full textThis study investigates the underrepresentation and marginalization of Desi (South Asian) administrators in leadership positions within U.S. higher education institutions. Despite growing diversity in student populations, Desi administrators remain significantly underrepresented in leadership roles, with research indicating they hold less than 0.5% of college president positions despite South Asian students comprising approximately 5% of many student bodies.
Employing a critical qualitative methodology, this research explores the lived experiences of Desi administrators who have held leadership positions for at least one year. Through semi-structured interviews, the study examines how these administrators navigate their cultural identities within predominantly Western academic environments, their approaches to culturally responsive leadership, and the systemic barriers they encounter. The study utilizes the concepts of Culturally Responsive Leadership (CRL) and the Model Minority Myth (MMM) as analytical lenses.
Findings reveal four primary themes: (1) navigating complex cultural identities, (2) culturally-informed leadership practices, (3) systemic barriers and institutional navigation, and (4) mentorship and professional networks. The research demonstrates that Desi administrators face unique challenges including the perpetuation of the model minority stereotype, cultural navigation difficulties, and limited access to culturally relevant mentorship. Despite these challenges, these leaders leverage their cultural perspectives to implement inclusive leadership practices while navigating both institutional barriers and community expectations. This study contributes to higher education literature by highlighting the need for disaggregated data on Asian American experiences and culturally responsive support systems for Desi administrators.Educational Leadership and Policy Studie
Pedestrian Safety, Security and Privacy in the Era of Pervasive Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing
No full textPedestrian commuters, akin to public transport and vehicle commuters, are an important category of road users and an integral part of any urban community and society. Frequently, factors such as overcrowding of our streets and walkways, popularity and increased use of mobile devices by pedestrians, and the presence of fast-moving micromobility vehicles (such as bicycles, e-scooters, or skateboards) that share (often, illegally) walkways with on-foot pedestrians, present imminent and significant safety threats to not only these pedestrians but also other road users. Similarly, pedestrians and micromobility riders can also be a mutual danger to each other when they come in close proximity. In addition to being the root cause of distractions and related critical pedestrian safety issues, mobile applications and services have the potential of eavesdropping on the location, context and activities of its users, resulting in significant privacy concerns. On the positive side, the same mobile devices and micromobility technology that present these pedestrian safety and privacy issues, also hold the key to alleviating some of these same issues. However, significant research is needed to continually discern the (mobile and other) technologies used by pedestrians and leverage them to design a system/platform that enables pedestrian safety and, at the same time, respects users’ (cyber) security and privacy. Therefore, this dissertation aims to (i) employ the capabilities of modern devices used by pedestrians to enhance their safety on the road (from other road users and themselves). Furthermore, the research in this dissertation aims to (ii) study the impact of micromobility on pedestrian safety, and (iii) examine/investigate cybersecurity aspects and understand the privacy challenges posed by using mobile and shared micromobility services and other technologies used by pedestrians.Computer Scienc
Leveraging Student Assets for Integrated STEM Learning: A Design-Based Research Approach to Promote Game-Based Learning
No full textWe designed an online number estimation game using number line data visualizations to support climate change learning and math-science integration. Drawing from students' Funds of Knowledge, we conducted three design iterations and interviewed 12 racially diverse secondary students to explore estimation strategies, emotions, and motivation. This research highlights the potential of game-based learning to make STEM education more engaging and culturally relevant.School Psycholog