Fluvial sedimentology and architecture of two Latest Devonian Lower Huntley Mountain Formation outcrops, north-central Pennsylvania, USA Thick successions of river deposits accumulated in the north-central Pennsylvania region of the Appalachian foreland basin during Late Devonian time (~380-360 Ma). The properties and morphologies of these paleorivers are not well characterized. Latest Devonian tectonic, climatic, and eustatic controls on river dynamics and basin infilling also remain unclear. This study assesses the sedimentology, facies architecture, paleochannel depths, and grain size of a 133 m thick section of fluvial strata at two outcrops mapped as Lower Huntley Mountain Formation near Blossburg, Pennsylvania. Field-based lithofacies […]

Effective Multicultural Classrooms: How Gen Z Can Lead the Way The purpose of this study is to review the literature surrounding multicultural education, implementation, and training. Multicultural education focuses on making education equitable for all learners, including culturally and linguistically diverse learners. As the United States population grows more diverse, it is necessary for all teachers to receive proper training and experience in multicultural education. However, current research suggests this is not happening at an adequate level. Can advanced classroom technology be an answer to this issue? Can a new generation of teachers (Gen Z), with their technological and global […]

Energy, growth and oxidative stress in Leach’s storm-petrels Throughout their lifespan, organisms must invest energy into growth, self-maintenance, and reproduction. However, energy is limiting, so trade-offs exist when individuals allocate more to one system while neglecting another. When food is scarce during development, growth is often limited, but compensatory or “catch-up” growth allows individuals to recover from stunted growth when food is available. However, these rapid growth periods often come at a fitness cost, one of which may be advanced cellular aging as seen through shortened telomeres and oxidative stress. Telomeres protectively cap the ends of chromosomes and act as […]

The Regent: Catherine de Medici In the 16th century, France established itself as a global cultural leader. Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), queen and regent of France during the reign of Henri II, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henri III of France played an instrumental role in this development. This thesis argues that Catherine was not just a queen but effectively ruled as a king as she continued the legacy of Francis I and established a strong foundation for the cultural legend, Louis XIV. Catherine de Medici’s dominant role in the development of French culture is revealed through the lens of […]

Redefining Food Access in Rural Counties of Pennsylvania The U.S. Department of Agriculture narrowly defines food access as the percent of individuals in urban census blocks living more than one mile from a major supermarket or grocery store, and the percent in rural census blocks living more than ten miles from a major supermarket or grocery store. A comprehensive review of the literature suggests that there are many other variables that better model food access than just physical proximity to a grocery store.  The goal of my research was to perform statistical analyses on a multitude of variables in order […]

Building a Theatrical Performance from the Ground Up Devised theatre is the product of a collaborative process in which an ensemble of writers, actors, and designers create a theatrical performance from scratch. This process stems from themes the ensemble would like to explore and how they translate onto the stage. The ensemble then finds a way to break the themes down into smaller scenes that are later pieced together into full-scale production. In the fall of 2019, the Department of Theatre and Dance produced a devised performance piece in which I served as the Assistant Director/Dramaturg. As an Assistant Director/Dramaturg, […]

Revisiting August Wilson in the 21st Century: Blackness qua Queerness August Wilson, born Frederick August Kittel, was a Black poet and playwright raised in the predominantly African American Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born to a German immigrant baker and Black housemaid, Wilson, one of five children, experienced racial harassment endemic of 1940s Jim Crow America. Inspired by Harlem Renaissance writers Arna Bontemps, Langston Hughes, and Ralph Ellison, Wilson sought to expand the theatrical literary canon to include the lived experiences of Black Americans – both the spectacular and mundane. His plays have been performed all over the world, garnering […]

Interacting Particles on a Spherical Shell: A Group Theoretic Study Many biological structures can be modeled as a system of interacting particles moving on a two-dimensional elastic membrane, for instance, protein clusters on cell-membranes and capsids of immature enveloped viruses. In this work, we present a model for such systems. We adopt the combination of the Helfrich model and the Lennard-Jones model as our energy representation of the particle-membrane system. The nonlinearity of the model gives rise to a complex competition of equilibrium states of the energy with symmetric features. We implement group-theoretic techniques to examine symmetric states and develop […]

Gender Differences in Exonerations Wrongful convictions are a gross miscarriage of justice and leave innocent people in prison for countless years. Wrongful convictions undermine the integrity and legitimacy of the legal system.  Wrongful convictions can be traced as far back as the Salem Witch trials and there is a great deal of scholarship on the issue. However, as much as we currently know about wrongful convictions little is known about the gender disparities that exist between the wrongful convictions of men and women.  Since 1989, there have been 2,471 individuals exonerated and only 217 of those are women. There is […]

Alfvén Waves and the Sun’s Corona The corona, the low density outer layer of the sun, can only be viewed during a solar eclipse. It has a temperature of over a million degrees kelvin, while the layer beneath is much cooler. Currently, the cause of this is not well understood. Alfvén waves, which propagate on magnetic field lines, could explain this temperature differential. Theory predicts that Alfvén waves with frequencies 0.01-0.5 Hz can heat the corona, causing an observable oscillation in its brightness. Using Fast Fourier Transforms of two image series taken during the 2017 solar eclipse, we searched for […]