2021 Future Facutly Pathways Cohort

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Quincy Clark

Quintana (Quincy) Clark was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned a BS in Management of Information Systems from the University of San Francisco, an MS in Technology Education from Purdue University, a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning Engineering from the School of Engineering Education at Purdue, and a  PhD in Agricultural Sciences, Education, and Communication from Purdue.

Quincy’s publication record includes two ASEE Best Paper Awards, 7 journal publications, 45 conference publications, 17 invited talks, 5 op-ed popular press articles, and 1 pending patent.

The goal of Quincy’s research is to improve STEM attraction, retention, and diversity. For STEM attraction, she investigates instructional technologies for teaching and learning STEM through agriscience contexts and engineering education methodologies. Methodologies includes model-eliciting activities (MEAs) and a virtual lab she’s developing for primary schoolers called STEMulate-K12. For STEM retention, Quincy’s startup has won an NSF SBIR grant to develop the first personalized tutorial tool for college level engineering courses. This effort is helping to address the National Academy of Engineering 21st Century Grand Challenge to advance personalized learning. For STEM diversity and inclusion, she plans to improve the social climate in STEM by investigating ways to integrate multicultural thinking through problem-solving assignments in first-year engineering courses.

Abstract

“Design, Implementation, and Assessment of Mathematical Modeling of Agriculturally Based STEM Activities at the Elementary Grade Level”

Contextual learning experiences using integrated STEM, agricultural sciences (AgS), and mathematical modeling (model eliciting activities [MEAs]) can be a powerful approach to engage students from urban areas in STEM literacy, career exploration, and community awareness. This three-study dissertation contributes to: (1) an innovative framework for an MEA design process and features; (2) an innovative model for MEA research and implementation; and (3) assessment data of students' interest in and motivation to learn integrated STEM and AgS, all of which culminated in the novel MEAs that facilitated contextual learning experiences that use AgS contexts. This study also provides insight into innovative teaching and learning instructional approaches aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In particular, mathematical modeling, an emphasized topic in elementary grades' standards and curriculum, is addressed. This work draws from a larger, nationally funded project that examined integrated STEM learning experiences and teacher development. In the context of this dissertation project, I designed, developed, implemented, and assessed seven AgS MEAs. Each of the AgS MEAs addressed a local societal challenge (i.e., health and human diet, food security/insecurity, alternative energy, and green space utilization). The first study describes a process for designing and developing AgS MEAs. Data sources for this qualitative study included iterative documentation and expert evaluations. The central finding of this study was a process for designing and developing AgS MEAs. The second study describes a model for MEA research and implementation. Data sources included semi-structured teacher interviews, recorded teacher development sessions, and documented expert consultations. The central finding of this study was a model for implementing MEAs which supports contextual teaching and learning, self-regulated learning, culturally relevant pedagogy, multiple contexts, authentic assessment, and interdependence. The third study assessed students' interest in and motivation to learn STEM and AgS. Data sources included topic-related questionnaires. Findings from this study suggest that AgS MEAs may positively promote interest in and motivation to learn AgS, STEM, and STEM career exploration.

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Aundrea Collins

I am Aundrea Collins, a Doctor of Public Health Pre-Candidate at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and I am currently in the dissertation phase of my doctoral program. My dissertation research focuses on training adolescent mental health professionals working in psychiatric residential treatment settings to be sexual health education “first responders” for adolescents receiving psychiatric treatment in their centers.

My educational background includes psychology and health promotion/behavior. I received my Master of Public Health degree in Health Promotion and Behavior from Georgia State University in 2017 and my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Florida A & M University in 2014. My research areas are adolescent (mental and sexual) health, health education, and HIV prevention. I currently work as an Adolescent Mental Health Specialist for the Maryland Department of Health and a Research Fellow for the LabXchange Antiracist Science Education Project in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology-Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. In addition, I recently established my own public health consulting agency (Collins Public Health Solutions, LLC). In my spare time, I like to travel the world, workout, engage in retail therapy, and spend time with family and friends.

Abstract

My dissertation research focuses on training adolescent mental health professionals (working in residential treatment center settings) to be sexual health education “first responders” for adolescents receiving psychiatric treatment in their centers. My dissertation research aims to:

  1. assess adolescent mental health professionals’ knowledge/education, understanding, and awareness of basic sexual health concepts/principles, safe sexual practices, contraceptive methods, and sexually transmitted diseases/infections,
  2. explore adolescent mental health professionals’ experiences of talking about/discussing sex and sexual health with adolescents diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and to
  3. examine methods and strategies in which capacity-building can be developed and improved in adolescent mental health residential treatment centers.

From the assessments, the adolescent mental health professionals will be provided sexual health education training in the form of live or virtual workshops that will be tailored to address the needs/problem areas identified in the assessments. Because adolescent mental health professionals are essential, direct care, and frontline workers in their mental health treatment centers, the goal of my dissertation research study is for adolescent mental health professionals to feel capable and equipped with the adequate, necessary sexual health knowledge/education, tools, and resources to have the ability to openly, honestly, confidently, comfortably, and appropriately respond to sex or sexual health-related questions, issues, or concerns from the adolescents in their centers. In addition, adolescent mental health professionals should be able to offer appropriate sex or sexual-health related resources to the adolescents upon their request.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jesus Martinez-Gomez

I am from the town of Ferndale, Washington in Western Washington. I attended the University of Washington (UW) where I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology in 2016. During my time there I was an McNair undergraduate researcher in the lab of Dr. Veronica S. Di Stilio where I studied the genes underling petal and stamen development in flowers. After I graduated I joined the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley in Dr. Chelsea D. Specht lab. At Berkeley I rose to Ph.D. candidate and was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In 2018 the lab moved to the Section of Plant Biology at Cornell University where I am currently in my last year of my Ph.D.

Abstract

Lineages of organisms at all biological hierarchies, from cancer cells in a tumor to the giant fungi of the late Devonian, are at the whim of evolutionary forces. These forces shape the patterns of biodiversity that exist today and may go extinct tomorrow. Predicting how populations respond to evolutionary forces is key to understanding the principles of life and underlies applied biological research programs: from understanding how a new variant of COVID-19 will respond to a vaccine, to how the charismatic Joshua trees will respond to anthropogenic climate change. In order to make predictions, it is necessary to understand two processes 1)- the generative process that produces genetic and morphological variation and 2- how this generative process changes in space and time.

This dissertation investigates these two processes in monocot branching architecture. Plants are unable to move; instead they utilize branching as one of the mechanisms to respond to environmental cues and perturbations.  Specialized branches that hold flowers in particular positions are necessary for effective pollination via biotic factors (e.g., pollinating insects) or abiotic factors (e.g., wind). Over time, novel changes in branching patterns have led to the evolution of highly diverse plant architecture. Here I focus on the evolution of the umbel, a special type of branching architecture where all flowers arise from a single point. I employ both developmental morphological methods as well as statistical phylogenetics to capture the complexity of these branching structures.

In order to characterize the generative process that produces the monocot umbel I described an ontogenetic series of the morphology and anatomy of umbellate inflorescences in lineages where umbels arose independently. I employed traditional microscopic methods as well as laser ablation tomography, a novel method for studying plant anatomy, to trace the vasculature branching pattern in serial section. I found that in at least two cases, umbels evolved via a homologous developmental morphological pattern indicative of parallel evolution. In other cases, umbels arose via non-homologous developmental mechanisms indicative of convergent evolution sensu stricto. Taken together there are some developmental contingencies to the evolution of novel structures but these have been circumvented across monocot evolution.

In order to understand how this generative process has changed through space and time, it is necessary to understand what ancestral plants looked like in order to trace how novel branching patterns and resulting architectures evolved through time. Current evolutionary models of do not capture the complexities of plant development and are therefore morphologically unrealistic. In order to achieve a more realistic model of evolution I combined statistical phylogenetic models with a plant branching morphospace to produce an evolutionary model that is more aligned with our understanding of plant development and evolution. We find this model adequately describes the evolution of morphology and use it to validate a 200 year old conjecture on the origin of the monocot umbel found in Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae).

Overall this researched produced a framework that can broadly be applied to the study of other organisms in order to explore more mechanistic-based explanations for how macroevolution took place.

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Olivia Vilá

Olivia Vilá is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) currently working with multiple interdisciplinary teams on mitigation and resilience related research. She is a social scientist by training who has been engaged in qualitative research, both in academic and professional settings, over the last nine years. Her current work uses environmental justice, leadership, and policy process frameworks to assess communities’ ability to engage in mitigation and support efforts for improvement. Olivia’s dissertation, which is currently in progress, is titled: Equity in Disaster Recovery and Hazard Mitigation: The Role of Recognition and Leadership. Following the completion of her doctoral program, she hopes to work at the nexus of research and policy, using her expertise and skill set to benefit the hazard mitigation and resilience needs and efforts of underserved communities across the United States.

Abstract

Distributional injustices in the way people experience and recover from disasters have been widely documented. Currently however, there is limited knowledge about ways to promote equitable disaster recovery and hazard mitigation across diverse communities. The concept ofrecognition justicemay bea useful frame for exploring factors that can contribute to equity in this context. Recognition justice is the idea that group difference is acknowledged and respected andhas been empirically linked to procedural and distributional equity in various non-disaster contexts. This dissertation will explore the role of recognition in disaster recovery and hazard mitigation, as well as the role of leadership in prompting recognition. Leadership has been found to help diverse stakeholders come forward, amplify differences that may otherwise be subdued in participatory processes, promote openness and receptivity to stakeholder diversity, identify and connect diverse partners, and champion the disadvantaged, which are all actions that may contribute to greater recognition. Using the results generated from three research studies, this dissertation will contribute to scholarship at the intersection of environmental justice, leadership, and disaster studies by exploring how leadership can facilitate recognition of marginalized communities, and how that recognition may be associated with the opportunities those communities have to recover from disasters and mitigate against future hazards. These three studies include (1) a national survey of State Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs), exploring the state’s role in helping underserved communities implement FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants (2) semi-structured interviews with community recovery organizations and officials about their engagement with the Latinx community in Wilmington, NC after Hurricane Florence and (3) an assessment of a public participation protocol’s ability to contribute to an empowerment agenda in Robeson County, NC, by nurturing leadership and fostering recognition of diverse recovery and resilience needs.