Ph.D., Antioch University, 2019, Leadership and Change

More than a decade after the emergence of social and digital media, professional communicators increasingly use these channels to interact with a wide array of stakeholders. Simultaneously, public relations (PR) and communications leaders seek to understand whether their efforts to communicate and engage with stakeholders through these channels are effective in establishing and building relationships, as well as to measure “effectiveness” in the new technology-driven communications landscape. With this study, I addressed a gap in the academic research with regard to understanding the effectiveness of social and digital media as a communications tool by assessing employees' perceptions of their organization with respect to five communication concepts, both in general and based specifically on the company's social media communications. I assessed the relationship between the employee stakeholder and the organization from two viewpoints: first, from the viewpoint of the employees with whom the organization is communicating, and second, from the viewpoint of the communications professionals who post social and digital media messages on behalf of the organization. The results showed that an intervention to educate employees about the organization's social and digital media communications did not result in employees' increased positive perceptions of the organization as a whole or of the organization's sites with regard to each of the five communications concepts. The increase in employees' positive perceptions of the organization's social and digital media sites, which reflected the communication concept “promoting communal relationships,” was significant at p < .10; also, increases for three individual statements that were part of the communications concepts were sufficient for statistical significance. The intervention did result in statistically significant increases in employee use of social and digital media to engage with the organization and in usage of specifical (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Wireless communication networks have become ubiquitous in recent years. Current wireless applications are possible thanks to small WiFi cells that provide high-speed indoor coverage and outdoor macro-cells that support user mobility. Next generation wireless networks will use similar architectures to enable new applications such as augmented and virtual reality, the internet of things, ultra-high definition video streaming, and massive data transmission and storage. However, these applications require unprecedented high-speed data transfer capabilities enabled by large frequency bandwidths. Motivated by spectrum scarcity in bands below 6 GHz, previously unused millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands, where large bandwidths are available, are now considered for future wireless networks. The necessity for efficient communication techniques for such large bandwidths and mmWave frequencies is the main motivation for this dissertation, with a focus on the complex radiowave propagation conditions found in indoor environments. Propagation mechanisms such as multiple reflections, diffractions, and transmissions through walls are commonly found in indoor wireless communications, which cause variations in the received signal along its bandwidth (wideband or frequency-selective channels). Traditionally, antenna arrays have been used together with beamforming (linear processing) techniques to improve the system's performance. However, those techniques were designed for narrowband systems (e.g., zero-forcing or matched filtering) and their application to wideband systems requires additional processing that increases system's complexity. In the first part of this dissertation, we tackle the problem of beamforming in frequency-selective channels with two approaches: \emph{i}) we use the electromagnetic time-reversal (TR) effect to directly design novel wideband beamformers, and \emph{ii}) we generalize the block-diagonalization (BD) procedure used in narrowband channels to the freque (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, Miami University, 2017, Computational Science and Engineering

This thesis proposes encoding information onto random distribution parameters so that the same exact signal may be used for both radar and communications, simultaneously. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) sub-carrier weights are used to transmit samples of a random distribution. Weibull and Rayleigh distributions are explored and friendly reception in simulation for Rayleigh achieved a bit error rate (BER) of 10-3. Assuming a worst case scenario where an eavesdropper is missing only one piece of information about the signal, we show that using at least 32 sub-carriers they are unable to achieve a BER less than 30% for both Weibull and Rayleigh distributions. Finally, experimental results show similar trends in penalization using a Weibull distribution

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE), Wright State University, 2017, Electrical Engineering

As communication and radar technology continue to become increasingly sophisticated, the sophistication of technologies used by unintended parties to acquire transmitted information increases in direct proportion. As a result, entities such as the military and commercial communication industries require methods to protect transmitted information from undesired recipients. Furthermore, the frequency spectrum, a finite resource, is becoming increasingly congested due to inefficient utilization. This thesis presents a novel RF steganography concept that uses linear frequency modulated (LFM) radar signals capable of optimizing the use of the frequency spectrum and hiding digital communication within the LFM to covertly transmit to legitimate recipients. Finally, this work demonstrates that these joint radar/communication waveforms can be designed, transmitted, and received, using software defined radio.

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2015, Business Administration

Through in-depth multi-site case study, this research explores evolving trends of corporate sustainability in buyer-supplier relationships in the textile industry with respect to three areas: social and environmental supplier criteria, prevalence of communication strategies, and perception of competitive advantage. Findings show U.S.-based textile suppliers may perceive that communicating about sustainability is less relevant to competitive positioning. Conversely, textile firms with international operations demonstrated higher levels of sustainability communications proactivity. Overall results provide relationships to examine in future research.

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship

In this dissertation, I made several contributions to the literature on the authenticity of consumer communications, more specifically, the authenticity of online reviews. First, in essay 1, I identify and argue that the authenticity of online reviews can go beyond credibility to expressive authenticity. I define expressive authenticity as a subjective judgment of the text by readers regarding some textual cues, which include syntactic cues (such as length, word count, comma, etc.), semantic cues (such as affective/emotional words), reviewer-related cues (such as providing more personalized details and usage situations) based on readers' pre-existing norms, values, and prior knowledge about the entity or context. These textual cues of expressive authenticity judgment differ from nominal authenticity cues, including source verification and incentivization of the source, etc. In essay 1, I extend the authenticity literature by looking beyond the credibility of online reviews to expressive authenticity perceptive judgments. I also propose that the cues of expressive authenticity are distinguished and evaluated differently from cues of credibility. I also developed a self-reported measure of expressive authenticity judgment, which I validated and generalized across nine studies, various product categories, and service domains. I used a mixed-method approach with a predictive model using secondary online review data and a quasi-experimental survey design to collect data and conduct studies. In essay 1, I also developed a predictive model that can more accurately predict review expressive authenticity score and gave several textual cues that are significant predictors of expressive authenticity. Also, in essay 1, I argued the effect of expressive authenticity above and beyond nominal authenticity on review usefulness. In essay 2, I made a theoretical argument that authenticity judgment follows a two-stage process. In the second (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1969, Graduate School

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1960, Graduate School

Master of Science in Engineering, Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

This research details the development of a cutting-edge Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) using advanced 28nm CMOS technology. The study focuses on achieving optimal performance in high-frequency wireless communication systems. The LNA design showcases a significant gain of 40.39 dB at 6.31 GHz and an impressive noise figure of 6.68 dB at 6.31 GHz. The total area of the chip is 0.576 mm2. The methodology includes utilizing a common-stage LNA configuration with inductive source degeneration and cascade structures to enhance gain and noise performance. Special emphasis is placed on impedance matching, with a meticulous design of input and output networks to minimize signal loss and noise addition. The paper also explores key aspects of LNA design, such as transistor sizing, stability, and linearity. Stability is rigorously analyzed using S-parameters, ensuring the LNA's resistance to self-oscillations. Linearity is addressed through measures like the Third-Order Intercept Point (IIP3), ensuring signal integrity in the presence of strong interfering signals.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines how three major American newspapers reported on paleontology during the 1990s. Paleontology experienced a popularity spike in the 1990s with the Jurassic Park films breaking film records and bringing dinosaurs to the forefront of the public consciousness. A number of important specimens were found and improving technology revolutionized the field, leading to numerous discoveries. This study documents which topics within paleontology the media reported on the most and what news values drove this reporting. Additionally, this study analyzes the occurrence rate of a few common tropes, metaphors and mistakes often associated with paleontology within news articles. This thesis examines USA Today, The New York Times, and The Associated Press's coverage of paleontology due to their status as being amongst the largest news organizations and running wire services which distributed their work across the United States. This study applies the revised news values proposed by Harcup and O'Neill to gauge which news values are used by reporters and editors when covering paleontology and to determine if these revised news values are applicable to science journalism.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies

Chronic diseases and health disparities are on the rise in the United States. Along with infectious diseases and injuries, all are major contributors to the morbidity and premature mortality of the population. Additionally, healthcare costs are at an all-time high. Employing effective health communication strategies and interventions is key to facilitating the behavioral and social change necessary to improve the population's health. Rather than using one-size-fits-all messaging to attempt to influence lifestyle changes, public health professionals should focus on tailoring communications. Customizing or tailoring health messaging can magnify the potency and efficacy of the message which may affect behavior change. Thus, it is an opportune time for public health professionals to embrace novel and creative techniques for developing more impactful health communications. This three-paper dissertation provides concrete examples of how community and public health professionals can utilize community-based participatory research (CBPR) and human-centered design (HCD) approaches to create successful messaging. Paper 1 is a scoping review of the literature providing insight into how personas, an HCD tool, have been used in public health and healthcare over the past ten years. Personas are fictional representations of consumers with common behavioral characteristics such as goals and motivations which can be used to create compelling interventions personalized for the end-user. Paper 2 is a published empirical research study which resulted in the development of four unique personas and corresponding messaging created to increase safe sleep practices in parents and caregivers of infants. Paper 3 is also an empirical research study which used concept mapping to engage neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stakeholders in generating ideas and strategies to improve the transition from NICU to home. Concept Mapping is a six-step, sequential, participatory research process using brai (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines three United States newspapers' (the New York Times, Chicago Defender, and Montgomery Advertiser) coverage on race issues within the United States, and their coverage on discrimination and race issues from the Nazis from 1933 to 1945. It compares and contrasts how these influential newspapers covered these two country's discriminatory laws and ideologies. James Q. Whitman argued in his book, Hitler's American Model, that leading Nazis and Hitler himself looked at the United States for inspiration for discriminatory methods. After performing a textual analysis of over 140 newspaper articles, this thesis argues that there were differences in how the journalists covered Nazi issues versus local issues. The journalists were quick to be critical of the Nazis, but often shied away from criticizing American racism.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2022, Electrical Engineering

The current global system for mobile communications, wireless local area, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband demands a multi-band/multi-standard RF front end that can access all the available bandwidth specifications. Trade-offs occur between power consumption, noise figure, and linearity in CMOS Gilbert mixer wide tuning designs. Besides, it is preferable to have a constant IF bandwidth for different gain settings as the bandwidth varies with the load impedance when an RF receiver is tuned to a higher frequency. My dissertation consists of three parts. First, a tunable constant IF bandwidth Gilbert mixer is introduced for multi-band standard wireless applications such as 802.11 a/b/g WLAN and 802.16a WMAN, followed by a design synthesis approach to optimize the mixer to meet the design center frequency range, constant IF bandwidth, and power. A synthesized Gilbert mixer with effective prototype inductors, designed in 180 nm CMOS process, is presented in this dissertation with the tunability of 200 MHz IF, a constant IF bandwidth of 50 MHz, a conversion gain of 13.75 dB, a noise figure of 2.9dB, 1-dB compression point of -15.19 dBm, IIP3 of -5.8 dBm, and a power of 9 mW. Next, mixer inductor loss and equivalent electronic circuit analysis are presented to optimize the approach to offset center frequency and bandwidth inaccuracy due to the inductance loss between the actual and ideal prototype inductor. The proposed tunable Gilbert mixer simulations present a tunable IF of 177.8 MHz, an IF bandwidth of 87.57 MHz, a conversion gain of 7.4 dB, a noise figure of 3.14 dB, 1-dB compression point of -17.1 dBm, and IIP3 of -19.8 dBm. Last, a CMOS integrated wide frequency span CMOS low noise amplifier is integrated with the tunable Gilbert mixer to achieve a 27.68 dB conversion gain, a 3.47 dB low noise figure, -14.6 dBm 1-dB compression point, and -18.6 dBm IIP3.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Mechanical Engineering

It is not granted that the advantageous architecture of hybrid electric vehicles will result in improved economy and functionality. This is due to the complex nature of the tradeoff between fuel consumption and battery consumption in the vehicle and how it is controlled. Thus, as hybrid electric vehicles become more ubiquitous, it is necessary to conceive quicker and cheaper ways to prototype their controls. One feasible alternative to the immensely expensive prototypes produced by OEMs is to use an existing conventional vehicle platform as a host for a prototype. This method is explored in this paper and involves the installment of electric motors, a high voltage system, and, if desired, an engine swap. The systems' on-board serial communications structure must be commandeered in order to prototype hybrid supervisory controllers which interact with both the stock and added components. To achieve this a single programmable node equipped with a serial gateway can be inserted into the stock serial system. This tool can then be utilized to enable the torque splitting necessary between the two halves of the powertrain. During the development of this method, it was noted that the programmable node and its serial gateway had the power to enable many secondary features such as shift timing algorithms, P0 series charging, start/stop manipulation, and implementation of an ACC controller.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Agricultural and Extension Education

Agricultural communications is a growing field in both industry and academic spheres. However, no such academic programs currently exist at any higher education institution in Canada. This single-case study explored the attitudes and opinions of current University of Guelph agriculture students and agricultural industry professionals regarding the potential development of an agricultural communications undergraduate program at the University of Guelph and what elements should be included in such a program. Findings established a definite need for and interest in such a program and highlighted a distinct gap in this discipline, and related disciplines, at the University of Guelph. While no distinct format for the program was unanimously agreed upon, participants agreed it should be available in a way that benefits the greatest number of students and also reach those outside of traditional agriculture. Findings imply that the program should encompass a wide range of communication skills and topics and should be differentiated from general communications programs with agricultural influence. Outside of these technical skills, students should have co-op or internship opportunities and have practical experiences during their time in the program.

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2022, Business Administration

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to stay abreast of advances in communication technologies to be student centric, but institutional adoption of Short Messaging Service (SMS) text varies widely and research on incorporation for advising is limited (Arnold et al., 2020; IPEDS 2020; Santos et al., 2018). This quantitative study explored advisor use and perceptions on values, motives, and institutional support of SMS texting as a communication channel with students and the possible variables impacting those factors. Theoretical concepts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and adaptive leadership guided the study as well as existing survey research on Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in higher education (Duran et al., 2005). Survey responses from 402 advisors nationwide were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. SMS use was reported among all genders, experience levels, and programmatic formats and advisors overall had a positive view of the communication channel. Motives for use varied between subgroups within the sample and SMS was predominantly used to gain access to richer mediums. A statistically significant association between learning environment and SMS incorporation indicated that online advisors were more likely to use SMS texting for student communication. A statistically significant difference was also identified between median institutional support scores for SMS users and non-users with the directionality indicating users were more likely from SMS supportive institutions. Furthermore, advisors reported using SMS texting for both transactional and relational communication, even when their institution did not support the channel with training, policies, or technology. The study sheds light on the prevalence of SMS use and calls for leadership to gain greater awareness of their local-level policies, industry-wide practices, and system integrated options in managing the university-to-student connection. For HEIs (open full item for complete abstract)

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Comparative American Studies

This thesis draws on interviews with voters and organizers to disrupt preconceived popularized notions of the Deep South, arguing for a reimagining of the region's value through the lens of electoral politics and the Democratic Party's campaign efforts. There is plenty of room for revision in the apathetic approach that national Democrats and progressives treat the South with. This historic and contemporary disdain, paired with common guilt in the promotion of a limited and exclusionary idea of what the South is, contributes to the marginalization of Southern communities of color, queer and trans people, working class folks, and more. However, through attention to voter access, revised organizing tactics, and more, the Democratic Party can be a part of the solution.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, East Asian Studies

Productivity growth drives long-term economic growth and rising living standards in a modern economy. Information and communications technology (ICT) has been a key driver of both total factor productivity (TFP) and labor productivity growth since the 1990s. Japan, which has consistently had the lowest labor productivity in the G7, has not seen significant levels of ICT-driven productivity growth in its non-manufacturing sectors despite investing heavily in ICT hardware. This paper explores the reasons for Japan's failure to reap productivity gains from its ICT investments. I claim Japanese firms have failed to invest in organizational capital and new business practices to maximize the potential of ICT. A preponderance of very small firms with elderly managers have left large swaths of the economy with minimal ICT investment. Part of the failure to update business practices stems from labor market rigidity which reduces the labor input savings from ICT systems and inefficient capital markets which protect inefficient incumbent firms. Furthermore, the low rate of firm entry and exit, coupled with a lack of foreign direct investment, hinders the adoption of new ideas and the reallocation of capital and labor.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2021, Computer Science and Engineering

CUDA-aware Message Passing Interface (MPI) libraries like MVAPICH2-GDR have rapidly evolved to keep up with the demand for efficient GPU buffer-based communication by incorporating the latest technological advances to drive down communication latency significantly. However, with the advent of Deep Learning (DL), vendors have started to introduce libraries that are DL-focused, but not MPI-compliant – like the NVIDIA Collective Communications Library (NCCL). Furthermore, there is a lack of a single common standardized benchmarking tool to evaluate the performance of both MPI and NCCL operations. In this work, we introduce a new set of collective benchmarks within OSU-Micro Benchmarks (OMB) to evaluate the performance of NCCL operations in a manner that is semantically equivalent to MPI benchmarks. We then tackle the challenge to see if modern CUDA-aware MPI libraries like MVAPICH2-GDR can take advantage of advances in collective communications libraries like NCCL to provide high-performance MPI-compliant collective communication primitives for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and DL applications. We incorporate the ability to invoke NCCL API into MVAPICH2-GDR's tuning framework in order to select the best algorithm for any given message size. Finally, we evaluate the performance of our designs by investigating the improvement in latency at different message sizes and scales on the Lassen supercomputing system using OMB. The designs developed as a part of this thesis will be made available in future releases of MVAPICH2-GDR and OMB.

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2021, Electro-Optics

This research project compares the performance of a Monolithic Optical Receiver and a Multi Aperture Receiver, in order to reduce optical power fluctuations induced by a Gaussian beam traveling through atmospheric turbulence. In this this work a mathematical model to describe the effects of focal spot wander and aperture averaging is provided, in order to explain the reduction of scintillation by increasing the area of an optical receiver. In particular, the Churnside model is used due to its simplicity to describe the effect of aperture averaging as a function of the collection diameter for receiving optical systems. In other hand, the steps for the alignment of Multi Aperture Receiver systems are shown. In this section, interferometric tests are used to align each aperture of this optical receiver system, and thereby achieve a correct multimode fiber optic coupling of the Gaussian beam received after propagating through atmospheric turbulence. At the same time, a finder scope is attached, which aims to align the multi aperture receiver system with the optical axis of the Gaussian beam propagated through an atmospheric channel. iv This work proposes a set of five experiments which use the normalized variance of the received power as a figure of merit, to compare the fluctuations of power received with both optical collectors in different conditions of atmospheric turbulence. The atmospheric channel used in practice is described in detail, and consists of a 7km optical path in the city of Dayton Ohio, which is subjected to tests in different conditions of atmospheric turbulence, that changes depending on the time of day in which measurements are done. In the case of the Multi Aperture Receiver system, it has been possible to define an effective diameter to compare the increase in sub-apertures with the increase in the total diameter of a monolithic system. With this, it has been possible to introduce a new concept called "sub-apertures averaging", referring to t (open full item for complete abstract)