7903 research outputs found
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Dreher, Diane, English, interviewed by
No full textDr. Diane Dreher, Ph. D., is an author, researcher, consultant, and positive psychology coach. She has a Ph. D. in Renaissance English literature from UCLA and a Master’s degree in Counseling from Santa Clara University. She currently serves as a professor emeritus and associate director of the Applied Spirituality Institute at Santa Clara University. Dr. Dreher is an award-winning university professor and positive psychology researcher whose work focuses on hope and has been recognized internationally. She has written eight non-fiction books which have been translated into ten different languages which combine ancient wisdom with contemporary psychology and neuroscience. Her notable publications include her bestselling book Tao of Inner Peace and her newest book Pathways to Inner Peace (2025). Both offer help to finding peace during turbulent times and times of uncertainty
Teaching to transform: Teachers of color and the academy for future educators, a grow-your-own program
No full textGrow-Your-Own (GYO) programs are emerging rapidly across the US to increase teacher diversity and address the infamous teacher shortages. This qualitative case study employs critical race theory to examine 16 teachers of color who participated in a GYO program and joined the teaching profession. Findings illustrate the way teachers of color resisted and navigated institutional contradictions, as they pursued social justice and were confronted by an education system that often did the opposite. This paper calls on GYO programs to prepare PK-12 educators to navigate their socio-political context, reconceptualize the future of education, and teach to transform
Eisinger, William, Biology, interviewed by
No full textOriginally from Ohio, Dr. William Eisinger’s journey in academics began after graduating with a B.S. from Hiram College in 1965. Following that, he earned his M.S. from Purdue University in 1965. He completed his Ph.D. in 1971 at the University of Miami, and did postdoctoral research from 1970-1972 at Stanford University. At Santa Clara University, Dr. Eisinger was a professor in the Department of Biology, completing research on Sub-cellular Localization of the Blue Light Photoreceptor, Phototropin 1; Light Regulation of Guard Cell Function; and the Role of Microtubules in Guard Cell Function during his time at SCU. He has numerous publications and is a highly esteemed professor, having taught at SCU for almost forty years. His interests have included nature and agricultural ecology. He previously lived in Wisconsin, where he taught courses and attended classes while living near family. Now retired, he lives in St. Louis and has continued to teach and mentor over the years
Beyond Relevance: A Multi-Objective Approach to Enhancing Diversity in LLM-Based Recommendations
No full textMost research in recommender systems focuses on relevance, but diversity is equally important as it helps prevent filter bubbles and provides users with meaningful choices. This thesis explores the application of LoRA-enhanced LLMs for recommendation tasks across multiple datasets. While Large Language Models (LLMs) offer strong reasoning capabilities, standard LoRA-based fine-tuning often prioritizes personalization and relevance, struggling to maintain diversity and global quality in recommendations.
To address this, we propose two key enhancements:
(1) Personalized Adaptive Negative Sampling (PANS), dynamically balancing same-genre vs. different-genre exploration based on user engagement.
(2) Multi-Objective Loss Optimization, incorporating User Preference Score, Global Quality Score, and Genre-Based Entropy Loss to generate diverse and high-quality recommendations.
We further employ Bayesian Optimization for efficient hyperparameter tuning, ensuring faster convergence and better trade-offs between personalization, quality, and diversity. Extensive experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in achieving a balance between recommendation accuracy and diversity
An AI-Driven Microfinance Platform to Enhance the Growth of Small Businesses
No full textMicrofinance provides financial services to businesses which do not have access to regular banking institutions. There have been many digital applications developed to support microfinance schemes globally. However, the applications currently on the market do not yet fully leverage technology features, which are already being widely used in traditional banking. In conjunction with the Miller Center of Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, we have developed an application utilizing the latest technologies to help small businesses and lenders in all stages of a microfinance project
LEETQUEST
No full textThe technical interview process for software engineering position has drastically changed in recent times to focus on Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA). Although, data structures and algorithms are a foundational aspect of several programming languages, the questions asked in the technical interview process do not accurately reflect, in terms of style and difficulty, the experience students and professionals have with DSA from school and work respectively. As a result, many have looked to online resources in order sharpen their DSA problem solving skills. However, the existing solutions are riddled with flaws. In particular, the learning resources they provide are locked behind paywalls and are not integrated into the problems themselves. The issue with the problems themselves is that they lack any direction, leaving users lost as to where to even begin.
This thesis centers around the development of LeetQuest: an online web application that provides a user friendly way to learn and practice DSA problem solving skills. LeetQuest is designed specifically to address the problems with the existing solutions. It divides the problems by topic, and within those topics plots the associated problems on a directed graph which gives users multiple clear paths to follow providing a balance of freedom and direction. Additionally, along these directed graphs users will encounter nodes focused around learning; by integrating learning into the process it divides the learning into more manageable segments. The learning resources it provides are entirely free and come with several features designed for di↵erent styles of learners such as colorized descriptions and visualizations of data structures and algorithms to accommodate visual learners. Users can take notes and easily reference any previous learning or problem node they encountered. Moreover, users have access to a dashboard which visualizes their progress in numerous ways to encourage them continue learning. This project attempts to create a more user friendly and accessible means of preparing for technical interviews
Real-time 3D Automated Spotlight Tracking System
No full textCommercially available automated spotlight systems tend to be expensive and unattainable for smaller school or community theaters. This project provides a cheap alternative to automated spotlight systems on the market and is compatible with most stage lighting architecture by using the Digital Multiplex (DMX) Protocol.
Circuit boards with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio frequency track an actor’s coordinates in a 3D space defined by four UWB anchors. A Raspberry Pi single-board computer acts as a controller and converts the coordinates into pan and tilt angles and maps these calculations to values that the spotlight can read in order to move. These values are sent to the spotlight through the Digital Multiplex (DMX) protocol, the standard for communication for stage lighting architecture. The system costs about $380 overall and accurately tracks an actor’s position and centers the spotlight on the actor in real-time
Portuguese for Mozambican Mothers – A Language Empowerment App
No full textIn Mecúfi, Mozambique, the mothers of children who attend school through the DIFF EDUCATION program have a strong desire to learn Portuguese, the country’s national language, due to colonization. However, they have minimal formal education and little to no experience with technology. They are unable to read or write in any language, including their native language, Makhuwa, making many current educational resources unusable. This leaves these mothers without accessible, culturally relevant tools to help address their linguistic needs.
This project focuses on developing an educational application designed for non-literate mothers in rural Mozambique. The app emphasizes visual and auditory learning to accommodate users with no prior experience with reading or technology. To ensure usability in areas with limited internet connectivity, the app’s critical learning features function offline. Designed for group learning with a moderator, the app does not require individual logins and provides immediate feedback on exercises