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Navigating Rough Waters: Toward a Generative Ethics of Care in Child Advocacy and Ella J. Bakers’ Praxis of Social Change
No full textThis study situates contemporary child advocacy programming within a historical genealogy of Black women's leadership, focusing on Ella Baker as an instructive figure for future generations engaged in educational justice and Black childhood liberation. Black women have historically led efforts to protect and uplift Black children, often working outside traditional power structures to combat institutionalized violence and educational inequities. The dissertation examines the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools as a continuation of Black child advocacy, rooted in Baker's legacy and praxis. By centering her philosophy of empowerment, grassroots leadership, and social change, this research explores how Baker's work provides strategies for strengthening child advocacy in CDF Freedom Schools and similar programs. These connections not only enrich our understanding of Baker's contributions but offer insights into programming that nurtures children's voices, critical consciousness, and intergenerational engagement.
Baker's humanist vision of democracy, honoring the dignity and creative capacities of all people, including children, infuses the CDF Freedom Schools' mission of cultivating agency, leadership, and civic responsibility. These schools serve as critical spaces of hope, affirming the strength within children while equipping them to challenge systemic oppression, despite structural barriers challenging their full potential. Amid state-level attacks on critical race theory and historical truth-telling, this study asserts the urgency of preserving Black women's ethical agency in safeguarding Black children. By engaging Baker's legacy within the CDF Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute, this dissertation positions her as a contemporary mentor whose philosophy remains instructive for today's advocates.
Drawing from my experience with the CDF Freedom Schools program, this research advances a generalizable and coherent ethics of care framework for childhood advocacy ethics. Through genealogical method, I argue that an ethics of care rooted in public policy, empathetic listening, communicative action, and self and communal care provides a unifying foundation for Freedom Schools pedagogy, leadership development, and advocacy, operationalizing Baker's and Edelman's visions into transformative actions that empower children and improve their life chances and wellbeing, recognizing both the possibilities and the limitations inherent in this work
Professional Development Improvement Project: Supporting Math Teachers in Integrating Khanmigo and Generative AI
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectMontgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Virginia wanted to address the growing need for teacher training in using Generative AI. As part of their initiative, they established an AI policy and joined a nationwide pilot of Khan Academy Khanmigo. This project was created to further provide its educators with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to incorporate AI tools into their teaching. It involved designing and delivering a two-day PD session based on research-backed best practices and input from local educators. The content covered the TPACK framework, large language models, prompt engineering, and practical applications of Khanmigo from both student and teacher viewpoints. Evaluation through interviews and pre/post surveys indicated that the PD significantly enhanced participants’ understanding and confidence in utilizing Generative AI. The key findings indicated educators placed a high value on hands-on activities, small group collaboration, and AI tools that save time. It was also found that there are serious threats to the broad adoption of these tools. The most significant challenges are limited time and varying technological skills. To address these challenges and enhance the training, it recommends that PD include expanded hands-on opportunities and that protected time for AI PD is established by integrating it into regular school schedules
EFFECTS OF PUNISHMENT VERSUS REINFORCEMENT-ONLY PROCEDURES WHEN TEACHING EXPRESSIVE LABELS IN SPANISH
No full textThis study aims to contribute to current literature and add supporting evidence for whether punishment procedures (including error correction), which has historically been seen as aversive and unethical, are effective and preferred components of instruction. Few studies have directly compared the effectiveness of error correction procedures to reinforcement-only procedures for instruction in early childhood educational settings. The results will provide information regarding the relative effects of immediate and delayed punishment versus reinforcement-only procedures when teaching expressive labels in Spanish. Further, the research question will provide insight into whether children may prefer error correction in replacement of using a reinforcement-only approach. We used an adapted alternating treatments design to assess relative effectiveness and a concurrent operant procedure to assess preference
“SEE US… SPEAK LIFE INTO US:” TEACHER TURNOVER AND JOB EXPERIENCE IN FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS
No full textLeadership Policy and Organizations Department Capstone ProjectTeacher turnover continues to be a significant issue facing American public schools today, particularly those with a high concentration of economically disadvantaged students. In our mixed-methods exploration of Fulton County, a large school district surrounding Atlanta, Georgia, we employed multilevel logistic regression to analyze the relationship between teacher and school characteristics and turnover from the 2022-23 school year while simultaneously conducting structured interviews with educators employed at a variety of schools throughout the district about their work experiences and career plans. Our results suggest that levels of administrative support, student discipline, faculty community, and teacher autonomy are key school-level working conditions that impact teacher turnover decisions, and that those conditions tend to be better at low-poverty schools. We also identified differences in how teachers at low poverty and high poverty schools conceptualize their role, and how a lack of time is a significant stressor for teachers at all schools. More research is needed to explore the relationship between these attitudes and stressors and teacher turnover.Peabody College of Education and Human DevelopmentDepartment of Leadership Policy and Organization
Geometric Deep Learning in Drug Discovery
No full textGeometric Deep Learning (GDL) has significantly advanced various fields, including social networks, recommendation systems, and traffic analysis. Its application in drug discovery is a natural extension, as molecular structures have long been represented as graphs. However, unlike social networks and similar graph-based structures, molecules are inherently three-dimensional entities with unique properties that require specialized consideration. Traditional GDL methods have often overlooked these molecular-specific characteristics. My work aims to bridge this gap by integrating domain knowledge with advanced GDL techniques, creating a state-of-the-art framework to enhance the drug discovery process
CFTR Protein Interactome Mapping and Off-Target Identification of Pharmacological Corrector by Mass Spectrometry
No full textHere we aimed to investigate the CF corrector VX-445 using affinity purification-mass spectrometry and chemical biology tools. To provide a better understanding of the underlying molecular mechanism of VX-445, protein-protein interactions were mapped. Chapter 2 defines the remodeling of the CFTR interactomics profile upon VX-445 treatment and provides a connection between corrector response and differential translational dynamics. Ribosome structural proteins were found to mediate VX-445 response in a previously minimally responsive variant of CFTR. The relationship between protein translation and corrector response is further investigated later in Chapter 5. In Chapter 3, we investigate off-targets of VX-445 to highlight the utility of understanding the full spectrum of drug binding partners. We report an uncharacterized protein, SCCPDH as an off-target of VX-445. Methods to determine drug binding site on proteins by photocrosslinking are further discussed in Chapter 5. In Chapter 4, we then apply an improved interactomics profiling method to another rare disease, deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 (DADA2) caused by loss-of-function mutations in ADA2. We show a detailed interactome profile of several disease-causing variants and shed light on disease mechanism in the perspective of protein processing. Lastly, Chapter 5 additionally covers the determination of protein processing steps through time-resolved interactomics profiling (TRIP). The findings in this dissertation help us better understand protein misfolding diseases beyond CF, spurring deeper investigations to resolve remaining challenges for the betterment of inflicted people
Experimental Investigation of Venturi Microbubble Generation in a Viscous Fluid Using Temperature-Controlled Facility
No full textVenturi microbubble generators play a critical role across industries ranging from nuclear engineering to pharmaceutical and food processing, yet their performance in viscous fluids has not been well investigated. This experimental study examined bubble fragmentation in a viscous silicone oil using Venturi microbubble generators at controlled temperatures (120°F - 225°F) and varied flow rates (1.5 − 5.5 GPM). At a given flow rate, bubble size decreased with increased temperature due to lower fluid viscosity and surface tension. Bubble size also decreased with increasing flow rate owing to higher flow turbulence intensity in the diverging chamber. Among Venturi designs tested (7°, 15°, and 30° diverging half-angles), the 15° geometry provided optimal bubble fragmentation. Though the Reynolds number is traditionally used to characterize bubble fragmentation, the current studies with viscous liquids reveal that bubble fragmentation is best characterized by the Weber number, emphasizing flow energy and surface tension as the primary drivers of fragmentation over viscosity effects
ER-phagy Drives Conserved, Age-Related Remodeling of the Endoplasmic Reticulum and Promotes Longevity
No full textPublic health advances have significantly reduced early life mortality, enabling humans to live longer than ever before. As we age, however, a progressive accumulation of molecular damage drives homeostatic failure and chronic disease, thus increasing the disease burden in our rapidly aging society. Targeting the underlying mechanisms of aging itself can mitigate disease progression, reduce late-life morbidity, and promote longer, healthier lives. Evidence increasingly highlights endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dysfunction as a key factor in aging. Because ER function is determined by its specialized morphologic subdomains, this dissertation investigates the central hypothesis that remodeling of ER structure-function is an upstream event in the aging process, which may serve as a target for healthspan and lifespan interventions. The first part of this dissertation reviews the fundamental roles for inter-organelle communication in aging. The ER has long been recognized as a central regulator of cellular homeostasis, and the recent identification of its myriad organelle contact sites enhances its relevance to the aging process. The second part of this dissertation demonstrates that selective degradation of the ER, or ER-phagy, drives ER remodeling in early aging. Across eukaryotes, aging is associated with a significant loss of ER mass, shifting ER function from proteostasis to lipid metabolism. We identify TMEM-131 as a novel ER-phagy receptor and demonstrate that aging tissues utilize specific pathways to regulate ER-phagy, which likely serves a proactive, protective response in younger animals. Finally, we show that ER-phagy is required for lifespan extension in yeast and C. elegans. These findings establish declines in ER structure-function as a critical factor in aging and longevity, suggesting that manipulating ER morphology via ER-phagy could provide new longevity paradigms
A New Dimension of Cancer Communication: Integrating 3D Printed Tumor Models into Postoperative Consultations for Head and Neck Cancer Patients
No full textThis pilot study explores integrating personalized 3D printed tumor models with pathological annotations as communication aids in postoperative consultations for head and neck cancer patients. Due to the complex anatomy and potential speech difficulties associated with head and neck surgery, these patients face unique challenges with communication beyond the complicated/emotionally intense information all cancer surgery patients encounter. This study included five patients with squamous cell carcinomas who underwent tumor resections at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Their resected tumors were 3D scanned, digitally annotated with pathological information, and then 3D printed at anatomical scale in full-color resin. During postoperative consultations, physicians utilized these models to explain pathology reports before asking the patients to complete a survey assessing their empirical understanding of their T stage and surgical margins, subjective understanding of their disease process, and confidence in asking questions.
While no significantly positive impacts on empirical understanding were noted, patients indicated greater subjective understanding of the disease process and increased confidence in question-asking. The models also facilitated engagement with informal caregivers, provided an avenue for non-verbal communication, and generally elicited positive emotional reactions. These findings suggest that 3D printed models have the potential to significantly enhance postoperative physician-patient communication, but there may be barriers to implementation due to the models’ cost and the training/education associated with effective model use. Therefore, more research is necessary to optimize these models for clinical use and to evaluate their impact across a wider range of patients, providing a new dimension to cancer communication
Characterization of Dorsal Hippocampal Activity during Extinction of Contextual Fear in Endocannabinoid-Deficient States
No full textAcquisition and extinction of associative fear memories are critical for guiding adaptive behavioral responses to environmental threats, and dysregulation of these processes is thought to represent important neurobehavioral substrates of trauma and stress-related disorders. We have previously shown that pharmacological inhibition of 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) synthesis, a major endogenous cannabinoid regulating synaptic suppression, enhances fear learning and impairs within-session extinction of contextual fear. It is not clear, however, if neural activity of area CA1 of the dorsal hippocampus (dCA1), a canonical region for spatial learning, can also respond and/or represent aversive contingencies in an environment. To address this question, we used in-vivo calcium imaging coupled with pharmacological manipulation in an 8-day contextual fear learning and extinction paradigm. We found that dCA1 neurons exhibit responses to the aversive stimuli, with a significant increase in activity by late conditioning (day 4). Interestingly, the number of neurons recruited to the ensemble during context exposure decreases across conditioning days, while the number of shock-responsive neurons remains constant. The shock-responsive neurons have only around 8% of overlap between days, albeit displaying a higher response magnitude. During extinction training, we demonstrate that dCA1 neurons responded to both freezing and movement bouts; yet in an eCB-deficient state, neurons had less number of overall responses, coupled with an increased proportion to freezing events. We also found a strong negative correlation between the rate of calcium events in dCA1 and time spent freezing during early and late conditioning, which was lost in 2-AG depleted neurons later on each extinction day. Taken together, these results suggest a significant turnover or representational drift, with cells of the ensemble going silent or varying across time, but with a consistent and enhanced response to the aversive stimuli, which implies refinement and/or sensitization potentially occurring at the region-specific level. As such, our data advance the idea of neural ensembles as more "labile" and flexible systems than originally assumed, in alignment with current findings. In sum, we propose the dorsal hippocampus region as an important neurobiological substrate for acquisition of contextual fear and also extinction learning, possibly due to associative and non-associative learning processes