Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Creative Writing/Poetry

Free Women: Fairytales From A Lumbertown Brothel is a historically-based novel-in-verse inspired by the lives of trafficked women in the lumber camps of 1880s mid-Michigan. The poetic work pulls on the narrative traditions of Dorothy Porter and Anne Carson as well as historical records and fairytale tropes to try and make sense of senseless murders, enslavement, and violence. These poems seek to define womanhood in a dangerous time and place, give body and voice to a forgotten segment of people, and show the great strides and enormous failures society has made in the time since.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2008, History

The Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute, that reached a climactic point in the mid 1830s, was the product of congressional neglect and oversight. Congress through the establishment of the Northwest Ordinance, with its inflexible boundary lines, and the formation of the State of Ohio and the Michigan Territory, with an undefined boundary between the two, created a bitter jurisdictional boundary dispute between Ohio and Michigan. For over thirty years Congress failed to correct this terrible mistake while Ohio and Michigan continually pleaded for a resolution. The resulting "Toledo War," where Ohio and Michigan sought to remedy the boundary problem themselves through force, was the fruits of this congressional disregard. Only presidential intervention prevented bloodshed and the continuing threat of armed conflict finally forced Congress to address the issue. This longstanding failure of Congress to intercede, mediate and resolve the controversy almost resulted in an interstate war; the results of which can be firmly placed in the hands of Congress.

Master of Science, University of Toledo, 2013, Geology

Coastal dunes of Lake Michigan and corresponding down-wind lakes are studied for links between dune activity and climatic forcing; to date, little is certain about climate control on dune activity. By unveiling relationships between climate variables and dune activity, it becomes possible to associate the activity of dunes with certain climatic conditions. In this study wind, temperature, precipitation, drought, evaporation, and lake level are correlated individually with 210Pb/137Cs/7Be dated sand deposits from core samples taken in a small lake in the lee side of a dune ridge near Saugatuck, Michigan. Linear regressions were run to evaluate the strength of their relationship year-by-year, and offsets of one to two years. Visual correlations were also attempted by evaluating the trends in the annular data sets. While year-by-year R2 values were not strong, or mixed results made them inconclusive, visually examined trends showed more promising correlations. The strongest correlations existed between sand percent by weight, drought, and lake level. Discrepancies between trends were acceptable within the limits of associated error with isotopic dating methods, and showed a relationship between rising or high lake levels, wet conditions, and strong eolian activity (based on increased presence of sand in lake sediment). The implications of this research are that dune activity is linked to periods of wet conditions and storminess, and results can be used as a modern analogue for coastal dune activity during times of high lake level.

Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2024, Political Science

This thesis examines the consequences of executive agencies' response to the increasing use of the major questions doctrine in the U.S. court system. To do so, it examines how the Environmental Protection Agency responded to the Supreme Court's rulings in Whitman v. American Trucking Associations Inc. and Michigan v. EPA. After assessing their compliance with the major questions doctrine in these cases, the thesis discusses how the continued use of the doctrine throughout the federal judiciary could impact executive branch policymaking and expand the power of the courts in the policymaking process.

Master of Science, Miami University, 2024, Biology

Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi , is transmitted to humans through ticks, and it has become an increasing problem in the Midwest. In recent years, cases have been expanding from a hotspot in Wisconsin to Michigan's Lower Peninsula (LP) along the coastline of Lake Michigan. The expansion of cases coincides with increasing populations of deer tick, Ixodes scapularis , and of the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus , which serves as the primary reservoir host for the bacterium. A study from 2010 testing the infection prevalence in both deer ticks and white-footed mice found no infections in either species in most of the northern LP. For this study, mice were trapped along a transect from the edge of the known range of infected mice northeastwards toward the tip of the LP. Infected mice and ticks were found more than 100km beyond the previous limit but were not found along the eastern part of the transect. The proportion of P. leucopus carrying ticks was correlated with higher infection prevalence in both ticks and mice.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Biology

Midwestern North American lakes, including the Laurentian Great Lakes, are experiencing significant increases in water transparency due to invasive Dreissenid mussels and improved watershed management practices. Climate change loss of winter has reduced annual ice cover on the lakes. Increases in water transparency combined with the absence of ice cover in the winter may lead to an increased risk of exposure to damaging ultraviolet radiation (UV), which is known to regulate the early life stages of fish. Despite these potential increases in underwater UV, very little is known of the current day UV transparency throughout the Great Lakes, nor the UV tolerance or mechanisms of protection of the early life stages of a culturally, economically, and ecologically important subfamily of native Great Lakes fish: Coregonine (i.e., Lake Whitefish [Adikameg; Coregonus clupeaformis], Cisco [Otoonapi; C. artedi], and Bloater [C. hoyi]), nor an economically important invasive prey species of fish: Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). This dissertation investigated 1) the spatial and temporal UV transparency patterns across the Great Lakes, 2) the ability for UV to accelerate the hatching of native Cisco eggs, 3) the UV tolerance, mechanisms of protection, and sublethal consequences of exposure to UV among two life stages, four species and multiple populations of fish and 4) the influence of UV on the vertical distribution of larval Alewife and Bloater within Lake Michigan. Although long-term offshore UV data does not exist, long-term nearshore UV data suggest shallower UV exposure correlated with increasing dissolved organic carbon concentrations. Laboratory experiments revealed that developing Cisco embryos exposed to UV have the potential to hatch 30 days earlier than embryos unexposed to UV, the egg life stage of all native coregonines tested had a higher UV tolerance than the larval life stages, and the UV tolerance among species and populations of the same species varied. Field s (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2023, English: Creative Writing

My thesis, Up Close, concerns three main subjects that do not have agency to speak for themselves and a final section of personal poems. In one section, I draw the reader's attention to sites in my native northern Michigan that do not serve the functions they once did—everything from well-known tourist sites to my childhood backyard. A second section focuses on my maternal grandmother, Marilyn (nee Brownell) Rybka, who raised eight children, has been married for more than sixty-five years, and who now suffers from dementia alongside small strokes that occur with regularity. I imagine what she did and was like in her past as well as what she does in her everyday life. The third section records “postcard” communications from NASA's Mars Viking mission robots, exploring their inner thoughts as they sit idly, having concluded their missions. The final section follows a narrative following changes to the relationship to self through early trauma, the beginning and end of a romantic relationship, and rediscovering the self post-breakup. All four topics raise questions about purpose and value: why something that has lost or changed purpose is still valuable and why we should renegotiate our relationships with them.

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Biological Sciences

Vocal communication is a common trait across the animal kingdom and offers benefits in its adaptability to diverse habitats and landscapes. In particular, songbirds inhabit a wide array of niches, habitats, and landscapes and consequently produce unique and specialized vocalizations that are adapted to their environment and different behavioral needs. Songbirds' communications take place within acoustic landscapes comprised of biotic (other singers and noise) and abiotic (structures that reflect, absorb, or scatter sound) factors. Changes to the physical structure of acoustic landscapes as a result of climate change or silvicultural practices can alter the acoustic landscapes in which songbirds have adapted their acoustic signals. This investigation aimed to characterize acoustic landscapes of different forest habitats and effects of forest structures on potential acoustical communication. In three forest types, dry-mesic northern forest, rich conifer swamp, and boreal forest, we recorded pure tones within songbirds' auditory range (2 to 8 KHz) at 6 different distances along a transect and quantified different aspects of the vegetation through which the pure tones traveled. Four transect per forest type were used and sounds were recorded at two different heights (1 and 5 m). Linear regression analysis was used to determine if the pure tones were attenuated differently along transects, between sampling heights, and across forest types. Our analysis revealed that in the conifer swamp, sound was attenuated at a higher rate than either the dry-mesic northern forest or the boreal forest, and at our sampling height of 5-meters, pure tones' clarities were degraded more. Subsequent analyses showed the number of large trees, logs, and area of wood were likely the main drivers of difference in the attenuation of the amplitudes of the pure tones. These differences in vegetation as well as differences in attenuation of different frequencies amplitudes and clarities provide impl (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, MBA

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Educational Administration and Supervision

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1956, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1951, Educational Administration and Supervision

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1949, Curriculum and Teaching

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1949, Curriculum and Teaching

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1947, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1959, Biological Sciences

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1956, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, MBA