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GLOBE and Natural Inquirer Crosswalk K-2: Exploring Weather and Climate for K-2 Classrooms
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Fall 2025 Environmental Sciences Seminar Series, Michael Furguson
No full textRecreation Resource Management & Visitor Use Management around New England’s Outdoor Natural Resources will showcase real-world case studies highlighting how to balance visitor experiences with ecological integrity. Drawing on research across New England, this seminar explores sustainable outdoor recreation, frameworks for managing visitor use, and the role of data-driven decision-making in protecting natural resources. Participants will gain insight into how visitor management connects to community wellbeing, the recreation economy, and the future of outdoor access in the region
Technologies to Support Remote Work for Collaborative Groups
No full textThe nature of work continues to evolve, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. While a substantial number of employees have returned to traditional, in-person work environments, many continue to engage in remote or hybrid work arrangements. Online meetings are a significant aspect of remote work, and while there has been a significant increase in this area, there are still aspects of these meetings that are not fully understood. Existing research in this area has primarily focused on the development of tools to facilitate meeting execution and content management. In contrast, relatively few studies have explored the social dynamics and interpersonal interactions that occur within virtual meeting settings.This work is motivated by this research gap to examine how various factors within the online meeting environment influence workers’ creativity and well-being, as well as to explore technological solutions that can help mitigate negative effects. This work also seeks to understand the dynamics of groups in remote meetings and explore the factors that affect productivity and creativity. We contribute to the growing research in this area by conducting studies to investigate the impacts of various factors within the online meeting environment on creativity and well-being of the knowledge worker as well as the impact of technology to support the remote worker. First, to address common challenges in remote work—such as stress and difficulties with maintaining focus—we conducted a study investigating the effects of daily virtual nature experiences combined with mindfulness practices on remote workers’ creativity, stress levels, and focus. Next, we explored the impact of multitasking behavior on group collaborative tasks involving creative thinking. Finally, in our efforts to understand the online meeting settings we explored the role of camera configurations in online meetings and the impact on creativity and performance
The Role of the Gut Microbiota in Opioid Use Disorder
No full textOpioids are highly effective analgesics for acute and chronic pain management but carry dangerous side effects that limit their utility and increase the risk of opioid use disorder (OUD). Yet not all individuals prescribed opioids develop an OUD, presenting a conundrum: why are so some individuals develop an OUD and others do not? While genetics, social environment, and behavior contribute to risk, they fail to explain why some individuals transition from prescribed use to an OUD. My doctoral research investigates an increasingly likely culprit that is also a promising therapeutic target: the gut microbiota. The gut microbiota is essential for neurological function, and dysbiosis is linked to numerous neurological disorders. Opioid-induced dysbiosis associates with behaviors contributing to OUD, including tolerance, dependence, and drug-seeking. But the contribution of microbiota to variable outcomes of opioid use is unclear in part because previous studies collapse natural variation in both microbiota and behavior. And yet natural variation may be the key to unlocking how the power of microbes may be harnessed to predict and reduce risk of OUD. In my research, I applied an oral opioid self-administration paradigm to model the transition from impulsive to compulsive drug-seeking in mice, reflecting human behaviors used to diagnose OUD. By examining gut microbiota in feces archived from mice during the paradigm, I can correlate microbiota composition and changes with diverse aspects of OUD, and through microbiota manipulation, define mechanisms of promotion of, or protection from, OUD. My work seeks to fill fundamental gaps of knowledge and answer the question: Do differences in the gut microbiota influence OUD development? This dissertation begins with a literature review (Chapter 1) examining the complex relationship between the gut microbiota and OUD development. Chapter 2 examines microbiota signatures of tolerance and mechanisms of protection. Chapter 3 identifies microbiota patterns associated with the risk for compulsive drug-seeking. Chapter 4 evaluates procedural and analytical methods for fecal microbiota transplantation that impact the success of microbiota engraftment. These findings underscore the importance of models that capture the complexity of OUD by preserving natural variation in microbiota and behavior and identify promising areas for further investigation
Missing Child Incidents Resulting in Death: Distinguishing Features Between False Allegations, Wander-Offs, and True Child Abductions
No full textChildren are reported missing in the United States for a multitude of reasons every year. Often, law enforcement is tasked with investigating these disappearances and recovering the missing child. In some instances, determining the reason why a child is missing can be challenging. This study focuses on three types of missing child episodes that result in fatality: child abduction homicides (CAH), false allegations of child disappearance (FACD), and wander-offs (WO). This exploratory analysis contributes to a gap in the literature by identifying some possible differences between case types that may assist police in determining the likely explanation for the disappearance. The sample included 103 solved fatalities of children who were reported to police following their disappearance. Bivariate analyses for the association between various case characteristics and the dependent variable of case type were explored. Pearson’s Chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and cell-wise comparisons were used to identify significant differences between case types. Findings showed that accurate classification of case type at the outset occurred at higher levels in wander-offs (90%) than abductions (42%) and false allegations (12%); FACD victims experienced more household turmoil, prior maltreatment, and separations from caregivers than CAH and wander-off victims; CAH offenses demonstrated evidence of sexual assault in 91% of cases; CAH offenses were most often sexually motivated, while FACDs were about equally motivated by either punishment or the desire to get rid of an unwanted child; and the homicides in CAHs were primarily motivated by the desire to cover-up the assault or abduction, while FACD homicide were primarily accidental in nature. Recommendations for law enforcement, such as obtaining calls for service and administrative records, and conducting extensive collateral and neighborhood interviews, are provided
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NON-COVALENT HYBRID PHOTOCATALYTIC SYSTEMS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SOLAR FUELS
No full textTo prevent further anthropogenic carbonization of our atmosphere and combat climate change, we must shift away from carbon-based fuels and seek abundant, clean, storable, and energy dense fuels. One of the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels is the solar-driven production of H2 using molecular catalysts coupled to light-absorbing species in hybrid photocatalytic/electrocatalytic systems. However, such systems (especially those that are covalently-bound) often suffer from catalyst degradation and significant back-electron transfer under the conditions employed. In this dissertation, we present the design, preparation, and characterization of several supramolecular photo- and electro-catalytic systems towards the efficient reduction of protons to H2 in neutral water.
Using cyclic voltammetry, we quantify the impact of host-guest threading on the redox properties of methyl viologen using per-carboxypillar[5]arene (CAP[5]), or its water-soluble ammonium salt (WP[5]) as host. We discovered that in organic solvent, there was an observed 58 mV cathodic shift in Epc for the MV2+/MV+● reduction, while a 20 mV anodic shift for the same transition was observed under aqueous buffered conditions. It is well-known that host-guest binding affinity can be tuned by controlling the solvent conditions. However, being able to switch the stability trend by changing solvents is a unique and very exciting finding that opens the door for more complex switches and signaling systems that use these highly modifiable pillararene hosts. It also means that much care must be taken when working with redox active guests, like viologens, that may switch their binding character depending on the solvent condition and oxidation state.
We extend this investigation by exploiting the non-covalent interactions of a host-guest system to co-immobilize molecular catalysts and photosensitizers on the surface of semiconductor nanoparticles for electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, respectively. We have successfully modified both a well-known visible light photosensitizer (PS), [Ru(bpy)3]2+, and hydrogen evolution catalyst (HEC), Co(dmgH)2PyCl, with several guest moieties that are capable of threading into modified pillar[5]arene hosts anchored on TiO2 nanoparticles. Additionally, our choice of guest strategies allows for great flexibility in this system. In particular, we modify pyridines (py) and bipyridines (bpy) with guest moieties prior to complexation with a metal center that allows us to guest-functionalize any PS or HEC containing a py or bpy functionality (a great many!). Future directions for this work include coupling the reduction activity of an HEC or CO2 reduction catalyst with a water oxidation catalyst co-immobilized on the surface of a semiconductor for light−driven water splitting.
Finally, we demonstrate the use of cheapinexpensive, sustainable, Earth−abundant feedstocks to prepare histidine-functionalized carbon dots (HisCD). We show that these semiconductor-like HisCD can complex with [Co(dmgH)2Cl]+ to form a hybrid electrocatalytic material capable of rapid proton shuttling using the myriad basic functionalities on the carbon dot surface. This material shows excellent promise as a sustainable electrocatalyst surpassing the previous record for TOF in neutral water (250,000 s−1), achieving an impressive rate of 330,000 s−1 for H2 evolution at a modest overpotential of 0.38 eV