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Julienne Mathieu
No full textJulienne Alexandrine Mathieu is known for her roles as an actress, mainly in films by Segundo de Chomón during their time at the French company Pathé Frères in the first decade of the twentieth century. She appeared in more than sixty films, often in an unusual role for women, that of the “illusionist,” a magician who entertains the audience by performing tricks. She is therefore considered one of the most prolific actresses known from that time. However, my research suggests that she was also involved behind the camera, collaborating with Chomón in the creation of film tricks and animated scenes, which made her one of the first women in the fields of special effects and animation
Modular Learning Systems for Continual Control: Neural Principles and Computational Models
No full textHow do animals learn flexible behaviors that generalize across time, context, and perturbation? This thesis addresses this question through a unified framework that links normative theories of control, neural population dynamics, and learning algorithms.
Chapter 2: A Framework for Motor Control introduces a probabilistic framework for motorcontrol that unifies principles from optimal feedback control and dynamical systems theory. By casting control as inference in a latent dynamical system, I show that internal memory dynamics and sensory feedback jointly support adaptive, feedback-sensitive motor behavior. The resulting model naturally reproduces hallmark features of biological control—including preparatory activity, feedback corrections, and orthogonal subspaces—while implementing a soft form of model predictive control.
Chapter 3: Continuous Behavior from Distinct Skills: Compositionality in Motor Cortex tests these theoretical predictions in motor cortex recordings from non-human primates performing a continuous force-tracking task. I find that motor cortex activity transitions from a condition-invariant preparatory regime to a dynamic execution regime, and that feedback perturbations engage the preparatory subspace even during movement. These findings provide empirical support for a re-planning interpretation of feedback-based correction and demonstrate that motor cortex flexibly deploys distinct neural subspaces to support planning and execution.
Chapter 4: Dual-Learning for Supervised Learning builds on this framework to address a central challenge in training large neural networks: how to balance fast, efficient learning with stability and long-term retention. I derive a theoretical bound on the maximum stable learning rate that explicitly captures the interaction between curvature and gradient noise. Motivated by this bound, I propose a dual-learning architecture in which a fast low-rank learner adapts quickly while a slow full-rank module consolidates long-term knowledge. This architecture enables efficient, robust learning, supports continual task acquisition, and aligns with biological motifs observed in thalamocortical loops.
Together, these studies advance a unified view of flexible motor behavior—one that integrates control, learning, and neurobiology—and lay the groundwork for scalable algorithms that mirror the brain’s capacity for adaptation and generalization
Expanding and Supporting the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Workforce to Improve Health Outcomes for Communities and Patients with Language Needs
No full textThe population with language needs in the U.S. has grown substantially due to increased immigration, language diversification, and persistent structural barriers to education and employment that perpetuate linguistic isolation. This demographic shift pressures healthcare systems to adapt and provide more language-accessible care, as patients with language needs experience worse health outcomes than English-proficient patients. Primary care involves continuous, coordinated healthcare services that range from preventive, routine, and chronic disease care management. Access to primary care services prevents unnecessary acute care utilization and promotes health equity for underserved populations, including those with language needs. However, increasing demands, workforce shortages, and unsupportive care environments within primary care practices serving patients with language needs challenge the delivery of high-quality primary care.
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are a fast-growing workforce of primary care providers who provide safe, high-quality care, especially to patients residing in underserved areas. Therefore, the NP workforce is well-positioned to help meet the increasing demand for primary care for those with language needs and make primary care more accessible in communities with language needs. When NPs work in supportive care environments, patients receive higher-quality care and have improved health outcomes; however, most NPs work in poor care environments, which may limit their ability to meet the language needs of communities and individuals.
To our knowledge, no study has explored patient outcomes in NP primary care practices in communities with language needs or assessed how NP care environments influence differences in patient outcomes related to caring for patients with language needs. The dissertation aimed to address these gaps by evaluating the effectiveness of NPs as primary care providers for communities with language needs and identifying ways to best support NPs caring for patients with language needs to reduce health disparities. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to produce evidence on expanding and supporting the primary care NP workforce to improve health outcomes for communities and patients with language needs.
In Chapter 1, we provide an overview of the unique healthcare needs of patients and communities with language needs and the role of NPs and supportive work environments in improving access to primary care and reducing reliance on acute care services.
In Chapter 2, existing evidence on the impact of primary care service delivery on acute care utilization (emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions) and access to care for patients with LEP was synthesized. Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Primary care services (i.e., interpreters, language-concordant providers, and telehealth) reduced ED utilization and readmissions for patients with LEP, but did not significantly impact hospitalizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients with LEP faced disparities in access to care. Our synthesis suggests that ensuring reliable access to language services in primary care practices is essential to meet the needs of patients with LEP and to reduce health disparities.
In Chapter 3, we performed a secondary data analysis of an existing cross-sectional dataset containing information on Medicare beneficiaries, including demographic characteristics, ED and hospitalization use, and data on the percentage of households with LEP in communities where primary care practices are located. This was a merged dataset of Medicare data with American Community Survey data, resulting in a sample of 506,516 Medicare beneficiaries receiving primary care services at 895 NP-employing practices located in communities with varying percentages of households with LEP, ranging from 0.0% to 72.4%, We assessed whether the percentage of households with LEP in communities where NP primary care practices are located is associated with ED use and hospitalization among older adult patients receiving care at these practices. We found that receiving care at NP practices located in communities with a higher percentage of households with LEP was associated with a significantly lower incidence of ED visits and a marginally significantly lower incidence of hospitalizations among older adults. Our findings suggest that the NP workforce is essential to increasing access to primary care in LEP communities and reducing reliance on acute care services.
In Chapter 4, we assessed how the NP work environment moderates the relationship between the likelihood of primary care practices caring for non-English speaking (NES) patients and ED visits and hospitalizations. Across 596,677 Medicare beneficiaries receiving care in 1,042 primary care practices, we found that as the NP work environment improved, the positive association between practices reporting a higher likelihood of caring for NES patients and higher acute care use weakened. Our findings provide novel evidence that improved NP work environments can significantly weaken or eliminate health disparities related to caring for NES patients.
In Chapter 5, we conclude with a summary of the findings and provide practice, policy, and research implications aimed at enhancing the accessibility of health services to communities and patients with language needs and fostering more supportive NP care environments for safe and high-quality care. We also discuss the strengths and limitations of this dissertation
Full and Multi-Cycle Clinical Electromechanical Wave Imaging for Arrhythmogenic Tissue Characterization and Arrhythmia Treatment Monitoring
No full textCardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, contributing significantly to morbidity, hospitalizations, and reduced quality of life. The complexity of cardiac function makes effective diagnosis and treatment particularly challenging. The heart comprises four interdependent systems—electrical, mechanical, valvular, and vascular—each essential to overall function. Disorder in any one of these systems can impair the others, underscoring the need for comprehensive, integrative approaches to cardiac assessment and therapy.
Robust treatment of atrial arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial flutter (AFL), and ventricular arrhythmias such as premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and Wolf-Parkinsons-White (WPW) syndrome represent major clinical challenges. AF alone affects over 33 million people worldwide and contributes significantly to stroke, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death.
Moreover, valvular dysfunction, such as Mitral Valve (MV) disease, may yield electromechanical deficits that trigger arrhythmogenesis. Despite this burden, current diagnostic and treatment guidance tools remain invasive, spatially limited, or insufficiently precise. There is, therefore, a critical need for non-invasive, high-resolution imaging techniques that can dynamically characterize electromechanical dysfunction, automatically identify arrhythmogenic substrates, and inform real-time, clinical decision-making at the bedside.
This dissertation addresses that need through the advancement, validation, and clinical translation of two ultrasound-based imaging modalities—Electromechanical Cycle Length Mapping (ECLM) and Electromechanical Wave Imaging (EWI)— enabling full- and multi-cycle, real-time mapping of activation and recovery electromechanical functionality of the heart. Moreover, EWI is applied beyond the current high-frame-rate, clinically restricting operational setup, to being implemented on a portable, FDA-approved ultrasound platform for the first time.
ECLM is first validated as a non-invasive method for mapping atrial electromechanical cycle lengths (CLs) and detecting arrhythmic substrates in patients undergoing direct current cardioversion (DCCV). In a cohort of 45 subjects, including AF (n=21), AFL (n=9), and healthy controls (n=15), ECLM-derived atrial CLs showed strong agreement with P-wave intervals from surface electrocardiography (ECG) (?2=0.96). Two novel electromechanical metrics were introduced:%ACL, the percentage of atrial myocardium with arrhythmic CLs (≤333 ms), and CL dispersion, the standard deviation of CLs across the atria. These measures significantly distinguished arrhythmic versus post-cardioversion sinus rhythm states and were found to independently predict short-term (1-day) and long-term (1-month) DCCV outcomes (p<0.01). In two cases, ECLM is employed longitudinally across three-time points of consecutive AF treatment attempts to track AF progression and recurrence, demonstrating its potential for monitoring atrial arrhythmia burden and individualizing treatment over time.
ECLM is further applied in catheter ablation therapy to localize AF triggers and AFL circuits and stratify AF ablation responders. In patients with typical AFL (n=7), pre-ablation ECLM successfully identified the cavotricuspid isthmus as the primary reentrant circuit, with electromechanical CLs correlating strongly with both ECG-derived atrial CLs (?2=0.94) and intracardiac electrograms from electroanatomical mapping (EAM) (?2=0.87). In AF patients (n=15), 3D-rendered ECLM risk maps were developed, classifying local atrial regions between arrhythmic-variable, arrhythmic-synchronous, sinus-variable, and sinus-synchronous zones, capturing spatial heterogeneity and organization of electromechanical activity. Pre-ablation non-responders exhibited significantly higher %ACL (19.20± 13.27) and CLD (158.40± 57.12 ms) compared to responders (15.09± 13.56, p<0.05; 105.60± 42.37 ms, p<0.01, respectively) at baseline. An exhaustive regression model combining history of vascular disease, ECLM CLD and %of arrhythmic-variable regions of myocardium —achieved an AUC of 1.00, compared to 0.69 for the CHA2DS2-VASc score, demonstrating the superior prognostic power of ECLM-derived risk quantification.
Next, EWI is employed beyond arrhythmia mapping to assess electromechanical activation and recovery across the entire cardiac cycle in patients with MV disease. In an open-chest canine model, EWI confirmed, for the first time, the propagation of electromechanical waves through the MV leaflets. Clinically, EWI diastolic recovery mapping is developed, and full-cycle EWI is performed in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP, n=7), mitral regurgitation without prolapse (MR-only, n=5), and healthy controls (n=4), revealing significant electromechanical alterations in diseased subjects. In MVP patients, left ventricular (LV) activation is found delayed (76.0±12.5 ms) relative to controls (47.6±2.6 ms, p=0.0013), particularly at the papillary muscle insertions. Both MVP and MR-only groups exhibited prolonged recovery intervals compared to controls (MR-only: 277.0±27.6 ms, Controls: 248.7±10.4 ms, p=0.0395). In one clinical arrhythmogenic MVP case, EWI mapped the onset of a PVC beat on the region of delayed sinus activation and extended recovery, co-localizing with the myocardial segment affected by the prolapse, thus confirming the method’s potential to non-invasively characterize arrhythmogenic MVP.
To support clinical integration, EWI is adapted to operate at standard clinical framerates. A machine learning (ML) pipeline is developed to automate zero-crossing (ZC) detection in low-framerate strain data, using a Random Forest Classifier trained on high-framerate reference maps. In six (n=6) WPW syndrome patients imaged post-ablation, high-framerate raw ultrasound data were decimated to simulate low-frame-rate EWI datasets. The ML-based method achieved robust ZC selection at lower framerates, showing strong agreement with high FR ground truth data. Following, the EWI algorithm is adapted to perform on lower framerate clinical datasets, and feasibility is explored with the FDA-approved Terason uSmart® 3200T NexGen system, marking the first clinical deployment of EWI on a portable ultrasound scanner. Clinical-EWI (cEWI) successfully and accurately characterized the expected electromechanical activation wave propagation in one pre-clinical pacing animal model (n=1), one healthy volunteer (n=1), and two WPW patients (n=2). In both WPW cases, cEWI correctly localized the accessory pathway with higher accuracy than the 12-lead ECG alone, in an automated and fast manner.
Altogether, this dissertation establishes ECLM and EWI as reliable and clinically translatable tools for non-invasive mapping of cardiac electromechanical activity. By translating these methods onto already clinically approved ultrasound platforms and automating key processing steps, this work lays the foundation for real-time, patient-specific imaging of arrhythmogenic tissue in both pre-procedural planning and long-term care. Laptop-based cEWI has the potential to transform non-invasive electrophysiology characterization, making arrhythmia diagnosis and therapy guidance more accessible, precise, and personalized
Surface Engineering in Quantum Dots: From Ligand Binding Affinity to Photocatalysis
No full textThis thesis examines the fundamental surface chemistry of quantum dots (QDs) and their application as photoredox catalysts, with a particular emphasis on the role of binding site heterogeneity in cadmium sulfide quantum dots and the enhancement of catalytic performance through manganese doping. The work is divided into three main chapters that systematically explore size-dependent surface phenomena, ligand binding behavior, and strategies for improving photocatalytic efficiency.
Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive introduction to semiconductor nanocrystals, covering their unique size-dependent optical properties arising from quantum confinement, surface chemistry fundamentals including the LXZ ligand classification system, synthetic methodologies ranging from classical hot-injection to modern precursor-controlled approaches, and emerging applications in solid-state lighting, bioimaging, and photoredox catalysis.
Chapter 2 presents a detailed investigation of size-dependent ligand binding site heterogeneity in CdS nanocrystals. Through systematic ligand displacement studies using ¹H NMR spectroscopy on two distinct CdS sizes (~2.4 nm and 6.0 nm), we demonstrate that both sizes exhibit heterogeneous surface binding behavior consistent with a two-site model comprising weakly-binding (B₁) and strongly-binding (B₂) sites. Larger nanocrystals possess higher ratio of strong-to-weak binding sites (B₂:B₁ = 1.8 vs 0.5), consistent with increased exposure of {100} facets that bind ligands more tightly than {111} facets. Treatment with diethyl zinc to remove oleic acid impurities reduced total binding sites by ~18-26% across both sizes and decreased trap emission intensity in large CdS nanocrystals, indicating effective surface passivation of sulfur vacancies. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed persistent zinc presence on treated surfaces. These findings establish a direct structure-property relationship in CdS nanocrystals, demonstrating that nanocrystal size fundamentally controls surface chemistry through facet exposure.
Chapter 3 explores the enhancement of photoredox catalytic activity through manganese doping and strategic surface functionalization. Initial studies with CdS QDs reveal that reducing oleate coverage from 3.5 to 2.1 oleates/nm² increases reaction yields three-fold, while fluorinated CdS QDs achieve nearly four-fold enhancement. However, CdS QDs suffer from photodegradation during catalysis. To address this limitation, this work investigates Mn²⁺-doped CdS/ZnS QDs, which generate hot electrons through Auger upconversion processes, enabling reduction potentials sufficient for challenging transformations. Exchanging native stearate ligands with polar alternatives—3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), 3-phosphonopropionic acid (PPA), and tributylammonium formate—significantly improves yields in dchlorination reactions at extremely low catalyst loadings (0.0005 mol%). PPA-capped QDs exhibit improved photostability with retained Mn²⁺ emission post-reaction, while formate-capped QDs demonstrate the highest reducing power, achieving moderate to high yields for challenging substrates.
The appendices describe scaled-up synthetic protocols for various quantum dot heterostructures, including CdZnSSe/ZnS for solid-state lighting applications, ZnSe-based systems for low-toxicity applications in photoredox catalysis, and CdS/CdSe/CdS spherical quantum wells for bioimaging, demonstrating the practical scalability of these synthetic approaches.
This work provides insights into the relationship between nanocrystal size, surface chemistry, and doping in photoredox catalysis
Mapping Internally Persuasive Discourse: A Post-intentional Phenomenological Look at Korean American Adolescents’ Responses in Book Group Dialogue
No full textThis study explores how two Korean American adolescents think and learn through responding dialogically in an out-of-school book group facilitated by a Korean American educator. Employing Vagle’s post-intentional phenomenology as the guiding methodology and Sullivan’s dialogical approach for data analysis, the author maps the movements of the participants’ responses in key moments when tension is present in order to understand how and when they may be engaging in Bakhtin’s concept of Internally Persuasive Discourse.
Upon mapping the dialogic engagements, the author is persuaded that collective thinking is occurring in the time-space of an IPD. To illustrate the movement as well as the chronotope of an IPD, the author delineates a visual representation of IPD to assert that it unfolds as a temporary manifold in a dialogic time-space when responses are responded to in ways that generate tension and invite further response
Extreme Heat in a Warming World: Causes, Changes, and Air Quality Connections
No full textExtreme heat is a significant climate hazard, posing a major threat to human lives, social systems, and ecosystems. Global warming is certain to intensify extreme heat and its impacts, yet key uncertainties remain that motivate work to better understand extreme heat in the current and future climate. Two emerging goals in the field of extreme heat research are (1) determining how severe extreme heat may become under global warming and how its physical mechanisms may change, and (2) investigating how extreme heat interacts with other environmental hazards. This dissertation advances these research frontiers through the following four chapters.
Chapter 1 investigates the physical drivers of the unprecedented 2021 Pacific Northwest (PNW) heatwave and its connections to climate change. The event's primary cause was extreme atmospheric dynamical forcing provided by the interaction of a hemispheric-scale wave in the polar jet stream and a smaller wavetrain emanating from the subtropical Pacific. Dry soils likely amplified the heating in parts of the region, and a model experiment provides evidence that land–atmosphere feedbacks are capable of amplifying heatwaves in the PNW. Global warming dramatically increased the potential for this event's occurrence over the past decades (from a virtually-impossible to a multi-hundred-year event) and will continue to do so, while ongoing soil drying is probably making land–atmosphere amplification of heatwaves more likely in the PNW.
Chapter 2 examines, across global land area, how the severity of heatwaves has changed relative to warm-season-average warming over recent decades, and what mechanisms have been responsible. Multiple regions worldwide have experienced strong amplified (or suppressed) warming of the hottest days of the year, but the trends in most of these regions lie outside the spread of climate model simulations over the same time period. We apply two independent methods, based on a model experiment and statistical analysis of observations, to disentangle dynamic versus thermodynamic drivers of relative hottest-day warming: both agree that it is driven by atmospheric dynamics in the extratropics but by surface energy balance factors within the subtropics, and that while the highest-magnitude trends are driven by dynamics, the highest-significance trends are driven by surface energy balance factors.
Chapter 3 explores how extreme humid heat affects near-surface ozone and particulate matter pollution across global land area, using chemical and meteorological reanalysis datasets. There are several regions worldwide where pollution tends to be worsened during extreme humid heat relative to extreme non-humid heat, revealing a compounding tendency. Many of these regions experience some of the globally most-severe humid heat, and many are densely-populated. A more urban background chemistry regime is a strong predictor of higher co-occurrence of humid heat and pollution, and in such regions, stagnation and suppressed boundary layer heights during extreme humid heat likely help precursor species and pollutants accumulate.
Chapter 4, placing Chapter 3's findings in a broader atmospheric chemistry context, assesses the role of troposphere–stratosphere dynamics in transporting stratospheric ozone downward throughout the troposphere. Combining an advanced chemical reanalysis and a high-resolution meteorological reanalysis reveals that more of the behavior of ozone in the free troposphere can be attributed to stratospheric intrusions (as opposed to other processes of stratosphere-to-troposphere transport) than implied if the tropopause is under-resolved and vertical folds in it are obscured. However, the influence of tropopause dynamics on near-surface ozone is much weaker than at higher altitudes, as surface processes like pollution remain much more important
Shedding light on power outages as a climate change-related health-relevant exposure
No full textElectrical interruptions—during which access to electricity becomes unavailable—are prevalent in the United States (US). I refer to power outages as periods of prolonged electrical interruptions and electrical interruptions as a broader category of electricity inaccessibility. Electricity has become an essential service to power public infrastructure and individual housing needs. Given such reliance on electricity, power outages can threaten health in several ways.
As an example, power outages are life-threatening for those using electricity-dependent durable medical equipment, such as oxygen concentrators. Power outages can also precipitate adverse health outcomes by increasing exposure to extreme temperatures. Moreover, power outages during severe weather events can act synergistically to negatively impact health. It is also important to recognize that power outages disproportionately occur in and affect marginalized communities, possibly shaped by historical discriminatory patterns in differential investment in electricity infrastructure, grid maintenance, and housing stock quality.
The health effects of power outages do not affect everyone equally. For example, impact of power outages on cardiovascular outcomes could be worse for older adults due to the subgroup’s high prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Despite these factors, power outages remain an understudied health exposure.I frame power outages as a climate change-related exposure since most US power outages are driven by severe weather events, especially in recent years. Severe weather events (e.g., tropical cyclones, winter storms, extreme heat) caused over half of all electrical interruptions and approximately 80% of major power outages—events impacting over 50,000 customers or resulting in a loss of 300MW of electricity.
Framing power outages as an exposure both related to climate change and health is crucial for protecting population health in the future. By explicating the links among power outages, climate change, and health, I seek to show that power outages (a) are a growing threat as they likely will increase in frequency, (b) occur in conjunction with other climate change-related exposures (i.e., severe weather events), and (c) have potential differential patterns in exposure and health effects. These considerations are vital for evaluating power outages’ health impacts comprehensively and ultimately informing interventions to minimize related health consequences.
The overall goal of this dissertation is to frame and present power outages as a climate change-related exposure with potential public health implications. In Chapter 1, I introduce the pathways linking power outages to climate change and health. I discuss the ways in which power outages have disparate exposure patterns that inequitably burden marginalized communities.
Additionally, I present current gaps in the power outage literature about documenting small-scale power outages that our work aims to address. In Chapter 2, I characterize power outages, introducing definitions for discrete outage events (e.g., small-scale and large-scale) nationwide. I also evaluate county-level patterns of power outages across levels of social vulnerability and in conjunction with severe weather events. I discuss the importance of furthering power outage exposure assessment and collecting data in areas lacking reliable electricity information.
In Chapter 3, I describe the co-occurrence of power outages and severe weather events spatially and temporally. For this study, I considered individual severe weather events and multiple simultaneous weather events. I discuss the implications of understanding patterns of power outages co-occurring with severe weather events for appropriate preparedness and response efforts. In Chapter 4, I quantify the impact of power outages on cardiovascular hospitalizations among older adults in New York State (NYS).
This study considers individual- and area-level sociodemographic characteristics while also accounting for urbanicity levels. I discuss the need to continue research on the effects of power outages on health, especially for vulnerable subgroups. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I conclude this dissertation with a summary of key findings, a discussion of remaining gaps that are important to address, and a presentation of potential strategies to reduce power outages and mitigate related health consequences. These proposed potential strategies are grounded in the context of climate change and environmental justice
New Legal Measures Restricting Gender-Affirming Care: Implications for Research Ethics
No full textIncreasingly, new legal measures are restricting the use of gender-affirming care, raising challenges not only for the medical care of transgender/gender-nonbinary individuals, but also for medical research and research ethics. These restrictions may discourage researchers from conducting various types of research with transgender/gender-nonbinary individuals, such as asking about sexual behavior and gender identity or related issues in studies of adolescents and young adults more broadly. Researchers and institutions may also face professional risks in pursuing such research. Thus, restrictions on the use of gender-affirming care have important implications for researchers, institutional review boards (IRBs), institutional officials, policy-makers, and others. Restrictions could have an impact on the design, implementation, and management of research studies, potentially requiring consent form modifications, reconsent of participants, and asking participants about possible resulting physical/legal/social problems. Researchers and IRBs need to carefully assess these shifting legal restrictions. Input from legal experts may be needed concerning the interpretation, implementation, and enforcement of local and federal legal measures for initial and continuing IRB review of research protocols and the assessment of any changes to relevant legal measures. Researchers, IRBs, and others thus need to recognize, address, and develop “best practices” regarding these new restrictions.
Keywords: research ethics; researchers; research institutions; institutional review boards (IRBs); gender-affirming care; LGBTQ+; policy; research; mental healt
Sustaining Creative Practice After Graduation: Artists’ Networks and Alliances in Shared Spaces
No full textThis dissertation investigated how early-career artists navigate the transition from art school to professional practice by forming relationships and networks within shared studio environments. Focusing on three types of shared spaces, (a) private shared studios, (b) artist-run spaces, and (c) artist residencies, this study examined how shared environments shape artistic practices, foster resilience, and contribute to the sustainability of creative careers.
Drawing on in-depth interviews and photo documentation of six artists transitioning from early-career to mid-career stages, the research explored the role of social relationships, spatial dynamics, and informal learning in shaping their professional trajectories. The study was framed by two theoretical approaches: Schlossberg’s Transition Theory of 4S, which contextualizes individual adaptation during career transitions; and Actor-Network Theory, which considers the networks of human and non-human actors that influence artistic development.
Through these lenses, the dissertation revealed how shared studio spaces function not only as physical sites but also as conceptual and relational environments that support early-career artists in cultivating creative agency, expanding networks, and navigating postgraduation challenges. These findings contribute to ongoing conversations about the transformative nature of art education in relation to the art world, offering insights into how alternative and collaborative models can better support emerging artists in a rapidly evolving cultural landscape