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Helping Educational Leaders Navigate School Safety Resources to Improve Their School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Practices
No full textSchool crisis situations are increasingly prevalent, yet many educational leaders lack adequate preparation for crisis prevention and intervention upon assuming administrative roles. This gap poses severe implications for the well-being of school communities. To address this issue, a study was conducted within a university educational leadership program, focusing on K-12 school administrators enrolled in a doctoral program. These administrators, representing diverse school environments, are pivotal stakeholders in managing school crises, indirectly impacting students, teachers, and parents through their preparedness.
The study integrated a 60-minute workshop into a university preparation course to target this training gap. This workshop focused on navigating national resource centers for school crisis prevention and intervention, drawing on evidence-based resources from entities like the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools TA Center. The effectiveness of the workshop was evaluated through pre- and post-surveys, participant feedback, and practical scenario-based exercises. Key metrics included participants' familiarity with crisis resources, their confidence in managing crises (crisis self-efficacy), and the likelihood of applying these resources in future crisis situations.
Results showed significant enhancement in participants' crisis management knowledge and skills. Survey data revealed notable improvements in participants' confidence in accessing and utilizing crisis resources. Participants expressed strong intentions to revisit the introduced resources, emphasizing the workshop's practical value and the collaborative learning environment fostered by its interactive elements. This study demonstrates that integrating a structured workshop into university preparation courses effectively addresses the gap in crisis preparedness among educational leaders. Beyond boosting crisis self-efficacy, the workshop equipped leaders with practical tools and strategies crucial for managing school crises, thus safeguarding school communities. These findings underscore the necessity of comprehensive training for school.
Future research should delve into the workshop's long-term impact on school crisis management and explore scaling this intervention to other educational leadership programs. Incorporating follow-up observations and coaching could further bolster the application and retention of crisis management skills. Moreover, expanding the training's scope to encompass a wider array of crisis scenarios and integrating culturally competent practices will be essential for meeting the diverse needs of school communities
NAVIGATING BARRIERS AND BUILDING BRIDGES: AFRICAN AMERICAN PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION
No full textMany researchers have studied parental involvement in education; however, there is limited knowledge regarding how African American parents are involved in the educational
journeys of their high school age children. This qualitative study examined formal and informal forms of African American parental involvement in children’s education and the barriers to and facilitators of parental involvement. I analyzed data collected in 2018 from parents of African American high school students who participated in one of five partnering organizations in Western Pennsylvania. The sample consisted of 30 parents of African American high school students. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify codes and themes. The participating parents more often mentioned ways in which they engaged in their children’s education than
barriers or facilitators. Most often they described home-based involvement strategies; school-based strategies and academic socialization also were discussed. The parents most often engaged in what can be considered traditional forms of home-based involvement, wherein they focused on supporting their children’s learning and academic success outside of school by providing structure for schoolwork completion and by offering resources and activities designed to be
intellectually stimulating. This emphasis on home-based involvement is consistent with the contingency that African American parents tend to be more involved in activities at home where they have greater influence and control. Moreover, through what I describe as both positive and negative messaging, the parents were intentional with their communication with their children about their educational expectations. The parents believed they were encouraging their children to value education and aspire to be successful. The parents also expressed their desire to have
proactive communication with school officials, with each party being able to initiate communication. And they wanted regular communication with school personnel, not just when
there were problems. Racialized involvement strategies were identified, although this occurred less frequently than anticipated perhaps because the children were participating in programs specifically for African American youth. These findings hold important implications for educational practice and future research
Cholla-MHD: An Exascale-Capable Magnetohydrodynamic Extension to the Cholla Astrophysical Simulation Code
No full textWe present an extension of the massively parallel, GPU native, astrophysical hydrodynamics code Cholla to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Cholla solves the ideal MHD equations in their Eulerian form on a static Cartesian mesh utilizing the Van Leer + Constrained Transport integrator, the HLLD Riemann solver, and reconstruction methods at second and third order. Cholla's MHD module can perform over 200 million cell updates per GPU-second while using the HLLD Riemann solver and second order reconstruction. The inherently parallel nature of GPUs combined with increased memory in new hardware allows Cholla's MHD module to perform simulation with resolutions of cells on a single GPU. We employ GPU direct MPI to attain nearly perfect weak scaling on the exascale supercomputer \textit{Frontier}, while using up to 74,000 GPUs and simulating a total grid size of over 1.2 trillion cells. A suite of test problems highlights the accuracy of Cholla's MHD module and demonstrates that zero magnetic divergence in solutions is maintained to round off error. We also present new testing and continuous integration tools using GoogleTest, GitHub Actions, and Jenkins that have made development more robust and accurate and ensure reliability in the future
Computationally Exploring Structure-Property Relationships of Thermal Transport in Metal-Organic Frameworks
No full textMetal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are emerging as a promising class of materials for applications such as gas storage, separation, and catalysis, attributed to their large surface area, tunable pore geometry, and high porosity. However, their thermal transport properties have been relatively underexplored, leaving a gap in our understanding of the relationship between structure and thermal conductivity - knowledge that is crucial for the design of MOFs with specific thermal transport properties. To bridge this gap, we performed the first computational high-throughput screening of over 10,000 hypothetical MOFs using classical molecular dynamics simulations and the Green-Kubo method. Our research also includes an investigation of the impact of both randomly and symmetrically distributed defects on the thermal conductivity of two well-known MOFs, UiO-66 and HKUST-1. The results indicate that while randomly introduced missing linker and missing cluster defects generally reduce thermal conductivity, spatially correlated missing linker defects can actually increase thermal conductivity when carefully incorporated into the parent framework.
Given that approximately 90,000 synthesized and 500,000 predicted MOFs are known, there remains a vast, largely unexplored MOF-thermal conductivity structure-property design space, primarily due to the high computational cost of molecular dynamics simulations. To circumvent this challenge, we trained several graph neural network models to rapidly predict the thermal conductivity tensor of MOFs, thus facilitating the exploration of the MOF design space.
In conclusion, this dissertation provides critical insights into the design of MOFs with tailored thermal properties and underscores the importance of considering structural features and defects in the design of thermally conductive MOFs for a variety of applications
EEG Based Correlates of Attention in Intracortical Brain Computer Interfaces
No full textIntracortical brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) exhibit variable performance across and even within days. A limited number of studies have shown that attention is one factor which can affect performance, but these have primarily looked at EEG-BCI and utilized simplistic tasks which may underestimate the true attentional load real-world BCI users may face. To further examine the impact of attentional load on BCI performance and the motor signal which drives it, we utilized a complex 2D computer cursor translation + click iBCI task paired with an N-Back (N=1,2) task to induce attentional load. We used EEG to quantify attention with theta and alpha band frequency power. We found that performance remained stable across conditions for both participants (P2 and P4). For the most challenging dual-tasking condition, the participants overall firing rate increased, potentially as a compensatory mechanism to maintain performance. P4 displayed changes in theta during the hardest dual-tasking condition but with no changes in performance or the neural motor signal. When we examined the effect of increases in neural correlates of attention on performance and the motor signal of each trial, combined across single- and dual-tasking, in a multi-variate regression, we found P2 exhibited decreases in performance and degradation of the motor signal. P4’s performance improved instead, despite similar degradations of most motor signal metrics. These subject specific effects may be due to P4’s higher baseline performance as a result of his newer implant allowing greater control that is less vulnerable to attentional load. Overall, the effects of attention in iBCI performance were small, indicating the robustness of iBCI to high attentional load. We were also able to measure attentional changes through EEG during simultaneous intracortical recording. This lays the groundwork for future studies that wish to take advantage of a dual-modality setup in humans
Pitt Horizon Scholars: Broadening Horizons While Empowering Youth
No full textThe Pitt Horizon Scholars program is an emerging initiative designed to provide comprehensive support to youth and young adults who have experienced the foster care system, guiding them to and through their educational journey at Pitt.
This collaborative effort to shape a Campus Support Program for the Horizon Scholars is led by the Office of the Provost University Educational Outreach Center, in conjunction with the School of Social Work, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid and many others. This program aims to tackle the distinctive challenges that impede the persistence, retention, and post-secondary completion of Horizon Scholars. The Horizon Scholars program builds from ongoing national requirements and efforts with the Fostering Success Initiative as well as existing programming at Pitt to facilitate access to Pitt and to provide supports through college.
The Pitt Horizon Scholars panel will raise awareness about the program to foster support and collective action to ensure the academic success of potential and current Pitt students within the foster care system
Realizing Regional Resilience: Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative
No full textA cross-disciplinary group of University of Pittsburgh students will collaborate with the Fayette County Cultural Trust (FCCT) and other key stakeholders in developing a county-wide asset map and recommendations toward sustainable economic development.
The project builds upon last year’s work to address the so-called “brain-drain” that greatly affects the Appalachian region, as the capacity of the region to remain economically competitive suffers with the outmigration of skilled human capital
Resilience Within Graduate Students: How Can Graduate-Level Institutions Invoke Greater Resilience and Improved Emotional Well-Being for Their Students?
No full textGraduate students experience a heightened level of mental health problems due to the rigor of their programs, responsibilities in their personal lives, and the pressure they have to succeed. While graduate institutions and professional programs offer student wellness resources, such as access to school-wide counseling or program specific counseling and therapy, these resources are not robust. Poor student wellness can lead to serious and life-threatening behaviors such as alcoholism, drug abuse, or eating disorders; which can affect their professional careers and impact all aspects of their lives. However, as students are resilient, many graduate student will continue degree programs while dealing with heavy personal matters. Students persevere during intense schooling due to the fact that there is often an end goal in sight. Nevertheless, there needs to be change in the world of graduate academia. Scholars have theorized different methods to aid student wellness, such as adding course work focused on creating healthy mindsets, implementing new operating procedures at graduate institutions, and even just increasing visibility to counseling and wellness resources. This essay recommends that graduate institutions need to change operating procedures to become more friendly to student mental health. Graduate and pre-professional students can benefit the addition of mental health focused programs such as peer mentorship, counseling sessions, and even curricula that teaches students to maintain mental wellness through schooling and their respective careers. In addition this essay recommends that schools implement some program for new students regarding wellness practices within their industry
Assessing the Benefits, Challenges and Barriers of Peer Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation
No full textThis research project examines Intergroup Dialogue courses in The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan. I investigate the various reasons why the demand for these courses which peaked in the late 90s and early 2000’s started to decline in 2018. With partisanship at an all-time high in our society, and the ability and willingness to have discourse at an all-time low, the assumption would be that the skills taught in this program would be sought after.
Research has shown intergroup dialogue to be a beneficial experience for participants; yet little research has focused on the experience or outcomes for student facilitators. This study will focus on facilitators that ranged from the Fall of 2018 all the way through May of 2022. During this period there was turnover in teaching instructors who taught these courses and supervised student facilitators, several curriculum changes including a shortened training course, and a shift to online learning through the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of this study revealed that student facilitators perceived an overall positive experience because of the community they built through taking the courses, as well as the applicable skills in working with people different from themselves. One of the main barriers to taking the courses was the perceived time commitment spent in the facilitation course. These tasks involved weekly preparation to lead the dialogue amongst their peers, as well as weekly review of peer journals. The data also revealed that students who took a semester-long training course versus those who took a mini-course felt more prepared to facilitate, as well as felt a greater sense of community through the cohort model that was created through the whole 2-semester process. There has always been a tension between finding the right balance to fully prepare students to facilitate and the time commitment it takes versus the increasingly busy lives of students. The facilitation experience is fruitful, but it is a matter of convincing students that the process is worth the commitment and sacrifice
Rest-Activity Rhythms and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in an Adolescent High-Risk Community Intensive Outpatient Sample
No full textBackground: Sleep and circadian disturbances have been identified as a promising potential indicator of near-term suicide risk, with studies demonstrating prospective associations between disturbances and next-day, next-week, and next-month suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in youth populations. However, no research to date has examined the near-term associations between rest-activity rhythms (RAR), an actigraphy-based measure of circadian rhythm regularity, and STBs in youth. The current project aimed to address this gap by examining the associations between RAR and same-week and next-week STBs in adolescents attending a community intensive outpatient program (IOP) for STBs
Methods: Participants are 58 adolescents (mean age 17.06; 72.4% female sex at birth) who participated in the Sleep Predicting Outcomes in Teens (SPOT) study. Participants wore an actiwatch (GT9X Link actigraph) for up to 3 months, from which RAR stability metrics—interdaily stability (IS) and intradaily variability (IV)—and daytime activity (M10) were computed on weekly intervals. Weekly ratings of depression and suicidal ideation (SI) severity were derived from the Adolescent Longitudinal Follow-Up Evaluation (ALIFE) Psychiatric Status Rating (PSR) Scales. Suicidal behaviors were not examined in analyses due to low rate of occurrence. We employed mixed level models to 1) describe the patterns of RARs over time, and to examine 2) concurrent and 3) prospective associations between weekly RARs and SI.
Results: Intra-class coefficient analyses indicated significant within and between-person variability in RARs and daytime activity levels week-to-week. Lower IS was associated with higher odds of occurrence of SI with method (OR=0.61, p=.018) and more severe SI ratings (β=-0.15, p=.006) during the same week. Lower IS was also associated with higher odds of next-week SI occurrence (OR=0.52, p=.023). Moreover, within-person week-to-week decreases in IS (β=-0.13, p=.019) and M10 (β=-0.11, p=.031) were associated with more severe SI ratings during the latter week. These associations remained significant even after accounting for depression severity and previous-week SI ratings.
Conclusion: Our results indicate greater 24-hour irregularity in RARs may be predictive of near-term suicide risk in adolescents. Future research may benefit from considering 24-hour circadian metrics in the study of sleep and suicide risk identification, prevention, and intervention in adolescents