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From Student to Scholar: The Impact of CUREs on Sense of Belonging, Research Self-Efficacy, and Scholarly Identity
No full textThis dissertation investigates the impact of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) on undergraduate students’ sense of belonging, research self-efficacy, and scholarly identity, with a focus on equity and motivation through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT). Through a three-part design—beginning with a theoretical literature review and followed by two empirical studies—this work explores how CUREs can be more intentionally structured to support diverse learners in higher education. The first chapter offers a comprehensive literature review, synthesizing research on instructional design elements of CUREs and their alignment with SDT and SEVT. It argues for the importance of motivation-informed practices to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes, and it identifies key gaps in how these theories are applied across disciplines.The second study examines student experiences in social science and humanities CUREs, analyzing how course participation influences research self-efficacy and scientific identity, particularly for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. The third and final study focuses on social science and humanities CUREs, using regression modeling to assess how three elements—collaboration, iteration, and broader impact—predict post-course outcomes while examining the moderating effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and first-generation status. Findings reveal that while CUREs generally support positive academic and psychosocial development, these benefits are unequally distributed. Students with higher pre-course confidence in research skills show greater gains, reinforcing the “Matthew Effect.” Additionally, collaboration significantly supports belonging and identity development for first-generation students, while iteration and perceived broader impact show differential effects across demographic groups. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship on undergraduate research and educational psychology by integrating theoretical insights with empirical evidence to inform the design of more equitable and motivating research experiences. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed
Text-based Simulation for Scientific Reasoning
No full textTo develop AI systems capable of assisting scientific discovery, it is essential for them to possess strong scientific reasoning abilities. While traditional scientific reasoning has been extensively studied through scientific question answering, modern large language models (LLMs) primarily excel in this task by memorizing declarative scientific knowledge during training. However, their ability to tackle interactive scientific tasks requiring procedural knowledge remains underexplored. This dissertation addresses this gap by leveraging text-based simulations as benchmarks to evaluate LLMs’ scientific reasoning in interactive environments. In Chapter 2, experimental results first demonstrate that although LLMs can pass scientific question-answering tests, they struggle with interactive scientific tasks. To address this issue, this research contributes to both agent development and environment development. For agent development, in Chapter 3, this work enhances agent performance by introducing a neurosymbolic tool-using strategy that enables models to tackle tasks where neural networks typically struggle but can be solved with simple algorithmic solutions. Additionally, in Chapter 4, to mitigate the challenge of limited human-annotated training data, a self-supervised method is proposed to automatically train behavior cloning agents. On the environment development side, manually created text-based simulators struggle to scale and accommodate the diverse needs of scientific tasks. To address this limitation, in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, this dissertation explores two automatic environment construction methods: generating code for a simulator and directly functioning as a simulator by predicting the next state based on the current state and agent actions. Experimental results indicate that while these approaches show promise, LLMs still face significant challenges in serving as reliable world simulators, underscoring the need for further advancements in this area
A Comparative Case Study of Arts Education Equity: Understanding How Geography and Socioeconomic Status Influence Arts Opportunities in Elementary Schools
No full textMy dissertation research is a comparative case study that aimed to investigate (in)equity issues in the arts in education across elementary schools in five public school districts in two selected metropolitan areas in the American Southwest. The research was developed out of my own lived experience, my own commitment to equitable and just arts education, and the groundwork laid by two systematic reviews and the mixed methods pilot study. The existing literature has shown that the geographic location of a school plays a significant role in shaping and influencing educational inequalities and disparities (e.g., Engberg & Wolniak, 2010; Greenwald et al., 1996; Rowan-Kenyon et al., 2011; Wayne & Youngs, 2003). Looking at the current American public school system, decades after Brown, in fact, dual segregation by poverty and race still exists, but in more complex and nuanced ways (Goyette, 2014; Goyette & Lareau, 2014; Orfield et al., 2016; Orfield et al., 2012; Orfield, 2001). Preliminary results from the mixed methods pilot study suggested vast inequities and disparities in the arts among elementary schools within a single school district that covered neighborhoods that were not significantly different and shared a common set of educational policies. On the other hand, the two systematic reviews revealed that most research in arts education with a social justice agenda in recent years did not involve quantification but typically used only a single type of qualitative methods. As an art educator and researcher, I then paid more attention to the interconnectedness between geography and education, as a school’s location determines, to some extent, how many resources it receives from the state and local communities to support student learning in the arts. I hoped to further explore how equitable arts education is across different schools, and how arts education plays out in different socioeconomic contexts of the US public school system. In addition, the potential for methodological diversity in the field of arts education served as the second research focus of my dissertation study. I then proposed the following two sets of research questions based on my research interests. 1. Through the lens of arts equity, what differences in arts education can be measured and detected across elementary schools in neighborhoods that are geographically and socioeconomically distinct to each other in the state of Arizona? If differences do exist, why do they occur and what factors contribute to the formation of these contrasts? 2. How do key stakeholders’ understandings of arts equity impact their navigation and performance in these proximate yet distinct contexts of American public-school systems? Drawing on Kraehe’s multidimensional arts equity model (Kraehe et al., 2016), this dissertation project employed a mixed methods explanatory sequential design with a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches (Creswell et al., 2003; Fetters & Freshwater, 2015; Ivankova et al., 2006; Jääskeläinen et al., 2022; Maleku et al., 2021; Watkins & Gioia, 2015). In my case, the mixed methods explanatory sequential design meant an initial phase of quantitative data collection through selected publicly available datasets, a second phase of school inventory survey using quantitative methods, followed by a final phase of qualitative semi-structured interviews. The data collected from the Phase III individual interviews were used to further interpret the patterns that emerged from the Phase II statistical analysis. Based on the quantitative findings using bivariate correlation analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), I concluded in response to the first set of research questions that (a) when discussing equity issues in public school arts education, factors both inside and outside the school walls should be considered together; (b) the picture in the schools I studied is more complex than the oversimplified dichotomous view of “good (rich) schools” and “bad (poor) schools” that characterizes public schools in the United States; (c) geography-based factors play an important role in explaining equity issues in public school arts education. On the other hand, a striking pattern emerged from the qualitative data: key stakeholders adapted their behaviors to the context - the school system and the surrounding environment that significantly influenced it - in order to make informed and well-planned decisions that best reflected their interests. I define the geographic factors highlighted in this dissertation project as the key parameters that can be used to clarify and illuminate the specific context when discussing equity in arts education in public schools. The influence of geography was woven into the respondents’ accounts in both conscious and unconscious ways, as many of their decisions made in and around a particular school system were in fact based on their personal perceptions and understandings of the context. Simply put, it is the context that shapes key stakeholders’ behavior, performance, decision-making, and best ways to navigate the public school system, not the other way around. By analyzing and integrating the quantitative and qualitative data, the findings of this dissertation research indicated that geography, among other key factors, plays an important role in understanding and interpreting arts education equity in American public schools, as the concept of equity/inequity is indeed reflected and embedded in the variations caused by geographic factors. Negative and inequitable outcomes often result not from conscious and intentionally motivated decisions, but rather from unconscious motivations in unfair systems where inequities are more likely to arise
Quantum Estimation utilizing Bayesian Techniques and Quantum Error Correction
No full textQuantum estimation explores the fundamental limits of precision imposed by quantum mechanics, offering a quadratic advantage (in terms of the probe's energy budget) by leveraging entanglement and non-classical states. Among various estimation frameworks, the Bayesian approach is particularly useful when the Fisherian methods, such as those based on the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB), are not well defined, such as in uncertainty regimes or when limited measurements are available. Bayesian quantum estimation allows for adaptive strategies that refine precision as more data is collected, making it well-suited for practical quantum sensing applications. However, quantum estimation remains susceptible to decoherence and noise, which degrade measurement accuracy. To address these challenges, quantum error correction (QEC) has been explored as a means to preserve quantum information and enhance the robustness of estimation. The first part of this thesis establishes the mathematical framework for quantum estimation theory, beginning with classical estimation and moving to quantum estimation, with the two basic approaches: Fisherian and Bayesian. The second part focuses on the application of quantum estimation to transmissivity sensing. By employing a Bayesian framework, we derive the optimal probe states for estimating the transmissivity of a quantum channel under different prior distributions. The study demonstrates how quantum resources can enhance estimation performance and explores the trade-offs between different measurement strategies. The third part examines phase estimation, a key task in quantum metrology and quantum computing. This section analyzes various quantum states, including NOON states and general photon-number states, under the Bayesian framework. Additionally, adaptive Bayesian methods are explored, demonstrating how iterative updates improve phase estimation precision.
The fourth part investigates the estimation of the spatial separation between two incoherent point sources, a problem relevant to quantum imaging and microscopy. We analyze the performance of direct imaging (DI) and spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE) under different prior assumptions and extend the study to multi-source scenarios. The findings illustrate the conditions under which quantum measurements provide a resolution advantage over classical methods.
Finally, this thesis explores the role of QEC in quantum estimation and sensing. By integrating Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) codes and two-mode squeezing techniques, we develop noise-resilient estimation protocols for distributed quantum sensing (DQS). Different QEC concatenation schemes are analyzed, and their impact on hypothesis testing and machine learning-assisted sensing is examined. The results presented in this thesis contribute to the advancement of quantum estimation theory and its practical applications. By addressing fundamental challenges and exploring novel strategies, this work provides a pathway toward more robust and enhanced quantum sensing, and quantum estimation theory
Cultivating Career Readiness: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Latinx Students in Agricultural Colleges
No full textLatinx degree attainment and career development are essential for maintaining a competitive U.S. workforce, yet Latinx students remain underrepresented in agricultural related fields. As the labor market increasingly values both technical and interpersonal skills, this dissertation explores how Latinx students in agricultural colleges at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) perceive their career readiness using NACE competencies, guided by Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) and Career Human Agency Theory (CHAT). Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach, this multi-case study draws from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Latinx students and career services staff. Quantitative data reveal that many Latinx students are first-generation (71.96%), are Pell Grant eligible (65.42%), and come from immigrant family backgrounds (62.60%). Students identify professionalism (M=4.69), teamwork (M=4.63), and technology (M=4.42) as their strongest competencies, while career development (M=4.01), critical thinking (M=4.13), and communication (M= 4.17) rank lowest. Regression analysis shows paid internships do not significantly predict career readiness, highlighting the need for more intentional career development programming. Qualitative data deepen these insights, showing students often turn to faculty, staff, and family for career support first before utilizing career center services. Many pursue community-centered careers, motivated by personal and familial challenges. However, unclear career pathways and systemic barriers lead some to question or change their goals. This study underscores the need for culturally responsive career services that reflect Latinx students’ lived experiences and leverage their existing cultural strengths. Findings inform institutional strategies to embed career development within academic environments and better support historically underrepresented students, ultimately contributing to more equitable workforce outcomes
Meta Gentrification: The Gentrification Nexus in the Advent of Corporate Landlordism
No full textThis dissertation explores the rise of corporate landlords taking hold of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area’s housing market. The dissertation explores the local and national historical settings that led way to the Phoenix Metropolitan Area becoming one of the largest markets in the country for corporate landlords. After exploring the history of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and the rise of corporate landlordism, the dissertation creates a unique dataset that classifies millions of sales records from 2000-2020 in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. From this dataset, spatial statistics and predictive modelling can be used to describe and predict where corporate landlords are purchasing housing units, explain how corporate landlords are exacerbating housing scarcity, and lend hand in answering who is being affected by investors commodifying houses. Corporate landlords have greatly shaped both rental and homebuying markets. Due to this, conceptualizations of displacement and gentrification appear to struggle with the broad reaching effects of corporate landlordism. Gentrification typically assumes that displacement occurs because of a wealthier, more privileged group moving into a disadvantaged or ethnic enclave. Through the creation of this granular dataset and spatial analysis, this dissertation finds that corporate landlords affect nearly all demographics evenly and have consumed nearly 25% of Phoenix’s housing units. A quarter of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area’s homes are now held by investors. Contemporary conceptions of gentrification are too myopic; with a broad-based housing crunch, it is likely that serialized displacement within a region is normalized and not only contained to ethnic enclaves. This dissertation argues that meta gentrification, the omnipresence of housing competition onset by corporate landlords, is leading to housing scarcity across entire cities
The Unfolding Image: aurora in Process
No full textThis thesis traces the development of the multimedia installation aurora, examining the dynamic interplay between language, image, and artistic process. Rather than offering a fixed interpretation, it provides a framework to read around the work, engaging with Walter Benjamin’s concept of experience as a narrative, intuitive, and subjective discourse that transmits meaning. The text embraces the fluidity and unpredictability inherent in artistic practice, reflecting on the tension between mechanical reproduction, aura, and the dialectical relationship between politics and aesthetics. Theories by Walter Benjamin, Vilém Flusser, and Ludwig Wittgenstein inform this exploration.At its core, aurora emerges within a historical moment marked by global crises, media saturation, and technology's evolving role in shaping perception. The writing acknowledges its constructed nature, mirroring how meaning is continually negotiated and reinterpreted. In this spirit, the thesis incorporates generative text tools like ChatGPT, embracing their mimicry and algorithmic voice as collaborators reflecting the systems the work seeks to interrogate. Aurora is an interactive multimedia installation that blends ancient and modern elements to explore themes of translation, memory, and reproducibility. Merging 19th-century wet plate collodion photography with contemporary video, the piece generates an alchemical dialogue between light, shadow, and time. The artist’s practice is deeply rooted in the ancestral traditions of curandeiras from her Brazilian lineage. Karina Buzzi’s work is a dialogue between spirituality, the body, and time-based media
Madrigal Comedy and the Broader Choral Context for Early Opera
No full textMadrigal comedy is an important genre in the history of Western music. Traditionally,madrigal comedy has been considered a forerunner of opera. More recently, based on information regarding performance traditions and narrative content, some scholars have argued that madrigal comedy is more appropriately considered a choral genre. Madrigal comedy, particularly L’Amfiparnaso by Orazio Vecchi (1550–1605), does have an important place in the development of choral music; however, it remains an important precursor to opera not only because of common origins and Vecchi’s acknowledged influence on early opera composers, but also because of the shared approaches to dramatic story-telling. In this study, I have examined
the shared origins of opera and madrigal comedy, and how consideration of these shared origins can help re-contextualize the intersections of these two genres. In support of my argument, I have established a clear link between Orazio Vecchi’s madrigal comedy, L’Amfiparnaso, and the earliest operas, including consideration of the association between the composers involved, their shared connection with the Concerto delle Donne, and their common links to the Este courts. I also have compared musical and dramatic aspects of the two genres, including text treatment, melody, rhythm and harmony, as well as character representation, plot continuity, and chorus function
La Visibilización de los Pibes Callejeros de Buenos Aires, "los olvidados" de Ciudad de México y los Quinquis de Barcelona y Madrid
No full textThe visualization of the Street Kids of Buenos Aires, the “Forgotten Ones” of Mexico City, and the Quinquis of Barcelona and Madrid examines the representation of marginalized subjects, communities, and identities in major urban centers of the Hispanic world. This research investigates how urban marginality is conceptualized through intersecting social, racial, economic, and spatial categories. Through a critical and contextually grounded approach, it addresses the historical and regional specificities of each case while also identifying points of convergence across distinct experiences of exclusion and discrimination in urban space. Positioning alternative audiovisual narratives as a central analytical framework enables a departure from traditional perspectives, making it possible to engage with representations, discourses, and memories that are often excluded from hegemonic or stereotypical portrayals. Some key films in the analysis are Los olvidados (1950), El apando (1976) and Perro callejero (1980) from Mexico, Crónica de un niño solo (1965), Pizza, birra, faso (1998) and El bonaerense (2000) from Argentina, and Perros callejeros (1977), Deprisa, deprisa (1981) and Colegas (1982) from Spain. In addition, the study reveals how the dynamics of marginality in global cities are intertwined with the evolving (re)construction of social identities over time. This study foregrounds several key dimensions: the cinematographic representation of criminalized and marginalized figures at the intersection of documentary and fiction; the urban planning and spatial design of areas designated for underrepresented and minoritized communities; the institutional mechanisms through which hegemonic power incarcerates, isolates, and punishes the delinquent body; and the compounded discrimination experienced by the most vulnerable identities, even within their own communities. These analytical axes form the foundation of this work, offering a framework through which to interrogate and recontextualize practices of socioeconomic apartheid, disciplinary regimes, and mechanisms of social control. On the one hand, this study seeks to identify the direct and indirect strategies through which dominant systems construct and sustain the figure of the Other across social, economic, spatial, and cultural domains, functioning as mechanisms of totalizing control. On the other hand, it examines the everyday tactics employed by marginalized, ignored, and relegated figures within the urban landscape—tactics that not only enable survival but also carve out spaces for expression, reflection, and self-representation. In this context, the study shows how these subjects reconfigure their relationship with the city and the broader social panorama, contesting the limitations imposed by hegemonic and hierarchical structures. To examine all these issues in depth, this investigation draws on a combination of theoretical and critical frameworks. Biopolitics and necropolitics provide lenses for analyzing the governance of life and death; the right to the city enables the exploration of contested access to and appropriation of urban space; and intersectionality offers a method for investigating how overlapping systems of oppression—such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and disability—shape the experiences of marginalized populations, including quinquis, mercheros, migrants, refugees, Indigenous peoples, outsiders, sex workers, and people with disabilities. These approaches are situated within an interdisciplinary framework that brings together Hispanic cultural studies, urban studies, and film studies, allowing for a nuanced analysis of marginality and its representations in urban contexts across both the Global North and the Global South. Films that depict marginalized lives from diverse perspectives also serve as a means to engage with contemporary urban conditions, particularly in peripheral neighborhoods and informal settlements, where the pursuit of a dignified life remains an ongoing struggle and access to basic services continues to pose a daily challenge. RESUMEN:La visibilización de los pibes callejeros de Buenos Aires, los “olvidados” de Ciudad de México y los quinquis de Barcelona y Madrid analiza la representación de sujetos, comunidades e identidades marginadas en grandes ciudades del mundo hispano, examinando la conceptualización de la marginalidad urbana a partir de distintas categorizaciones sociales, raciales, económicas y espaciales. Desde una perspectiva crítica y contextual, la investigación explora tanto las particularidades históricas y regionales de cada caso como los puntos de convergencia entre diversas experiencias de exclusión y discriminación en el espacio urbano. El empleo de narraciones audiovisuales alternativas como eje analítico y crítico permite trascender los enfoques convencionales, facilitando la exploración de representaciones, discursos, vivencias y memorias que han quedado al margen de las narraciones hegemónicas y/o estereotipadas. Algunas películas clave en el análisis son Los olvidados (1950), El apando (1976) y Perro callejero (1980) de México, Crónica de un niño solo (1965), Pizza, birra, faso (1998) y El bonaerense (2000) de Argentina, y Perros callejeros (1977), Deprisa, deprisa (1981) y Colegas (1982) de España. El estudio de estas ciudades globales no solo permite la comprensión de las dinámicas específicas de la marginalidad, sino que también aporta una reflexión sobre los procesos de (re)construcción y transformación de las identidades sociales a lo largo del tiempo. Entre los diversos aspectos abordados en este análisis, destacan la representación cinematográfica de figuras criminalizadas y marginadas en la intersección entre el documental y la ficción; la planificación urbana y el diseño espacial de áreas destinadas a comunidades subrepresentadas y minorizadas dentro del tejido urbano; los mecanismos institucionalizados por el poder hegemónico para encarcelar, aislar y castigar el cuerpo del delincuente; y, finalmente, la doble discriminación que sufren las identidades más vulnerables dentro de sus propias comunidades. Estos ejes constituyen los pilares de este trabajo y permiten problematizar y recontextualizar las prácticas habituales de apartheid socioeconómico, de disciplina y de control social. Por un lado, el objetivo es identificar las estrategias, tanto directas como indirectas, a través de las cuales el sistema consolida y perpetúa la construcción de un Otro en los ámbitos social, económico, espacial y cultural, operando como un mecanismo de control absoluto. Y, por otro, examinar las tácticas que las figuras marginadas, ignoradas y relegadas del paisaje urbano desarrollan en su vida cotidiana, no solo como formas de supervivencia, sino también como medios para generar espacios propios de expresión, reflexión y representación. En este sentido, se indaga en el modo en que estos sujetos reconfiguran su relación con la ciudad y con el tejido social, desafiando las restricciones impuestas por las estructuras hegemónicas y jerárquicas. Con el objetivo de profundizar en estas problemáticas, el estudio se fundamenta en una combinación de enfoques teóricos y críticos. La biopolítica y la necropolítica ofrecen marcos para comprender las formas de gestión y control de la vida y la muerte; el derecho a la ciudad permite averiguar las disputas en torno al acceso y la apropiación del espacio urbano; y la interseccionalidad sirve como herramienta para examinar cómo múltiples factores de opresión —clase social, raza, etnia, género o discapacidad, entre otros— inciden sobre las diferentes identidades y comunidades marginadas, como quinquis, mercheros, migrantes, refugiados, indígenas, fuereños, trabajadores sexuales y personas con discapacidad. Estos enfoques se articulan dentro de un marco interdisciplinario que integra los estudios culturales hispanos, los estudios urbanos y los estudios cinematográficos, posibilitando un análisis más minucioso de las representaciones y las realidades de la marginalidad en contextos urbanos, tanto en el Norte Global como en el Sur Global. Los filmes que retratan vidas marginadas desde diversas perspectivas también permiten conectar con las realidades urbanas contemporáneas, donde la lucha por una vida más digna sigue siendo una constante, especialmente en los barrios periféricos y en los asentamientos irregulares. En estos espacios, la cobertura de las necesidades elementales y el acceso a los servicios básicos continúa siendo para muchos un desafío diario y crucial
Rescuing Moral Empiricism
No full textThe motivating thought underlying my work in this dissertation is that empirical evidence sometimes counts as moral evidence—that is, evidence for and against normative theories, principles, actions, and values. This view I call moderate moral empiricism, for while few would deny minimal moral empiricism (e.g., acknowledging that how much whiskey one has drunk before ethical reasoning matters), many reject the idea that empirical facts can play a substantial evidential role in our moral theorizing. My primary positive argument is that our dominant moral methodology presupposes that some empirical evidence is genuinely moral evidence. In the first chapter, I rescue G.A. Cohen’s influential argument from poor exegesis for an autonomy thesis commonly thought to oppose empiricism in moral and political philosophy. I argue that it does not oppose my view, but may well still strike its intended target: Rawls. In the second chapter, I give the positive theoretical argument for moral empiricism. I argue that our dominant moral methodology—reflective equilibrium—presupposes a moderate moral empiricism. In the third and fourth chapters, I examine a certain kind of empirical evidence: moral testimony. I argue moral deference is not different in kind from nonmoral deference, though moral deference is in general more suspect due to a convergence of factors. I also use cases of moral deference in the medical field to indirectly challenge those condemning of moral deference. In the final chapter, I provide a new case for a pluralistic moral framework that should satisfy the moderate moral empiricist and the moderate moral rationalist. The theory has notable parallels with the structure of Ross’s ethics