Master of Food and Nutrition (MFN), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Family and Consumer Sciences/food and Nutrition

The document looks at the connection between the eating habits among those who grow food in local, urban gardens in the neighborhood of South Boston, Massachusetts before, during, and after participating in this Garden-Based nutrition education intervention, known as South Boston Grows. The purpose of this intervention was to identify ways to improve eating habits in urban areas of need, otherwise known as food desserts. It has become apparent over recent years that a growing number of youth, as well as a growing number of those with reduced socioeconomic status in urban areas, are at a higher risk for being overweight or obese. Thus, this type of garden-based nutrition education intervention was put in place to improve eating habits and ultimately, intake of produce from the project gardens and farms in these urban areas of need and beyond. Annually, approximately a dozen teen participants are involved in the summer program for 7-10 weeks and 10-12 school and after school programs are involved during the school year, in appropriate garden-based education topics, including growing and preparing food in and from urban gardens, composting, seed saving, cooking healthy food at a nearby kitchen with produce they grew, and even looking at how to farm in large scale suburban and/or rural farms. To evaluate the success of the intervention, participants completed a pre- and a post-test (when appropriate) that evaluated fruit juice and vegetable (of many varieties) intake before, during, and after the intervention. The results of these surveys showed that participants were much more likely to try new foods that they grew themselves than they may have been before participating in the intervention. Some of the most popular foods to eat out of those grown included; green salad, peas, carrots, and broccoli. Participants were significantly more likely to try new foods they never tried, when they grew them. A sense of community and appreciation for the environment has also grown a (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2012, Spanish

This thesis examines the work of Jorge Luis Borges in the context of Chinese literature and philosophy, with a special focus on his story “The Garden of Forking Paths.” The central argument is that the story can be understood as an attempt to create both a textual Chinese garden and a book of time in the style of the Chinese Yi Jing. It is shown how the text assumes many of the characteristics of a Chinese garden and how the story illustrates a particular understanding of time through its structure. Finally, connections are drawn between the story and two Chinese texts: Sun Zi's The Art of War and the Tao An Meng Yi, a collection of essays from the Ming dynasty.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

The landscape of Ohio lakes is a set of spatially distinct human-created habitats (i.e. reservoirs). These lakes, and thus the populations within them, are far younger (average Ohio reservoir age 60-65, range 30 to over 100 years) than the more commonly studied natural lake landscapes formed during the last glacial retreat (9000-14,000 years ago). Isolation and limited migration among these recently created reservoirs and environmental differences among them may set up conditions for population differentiation of life-history traits. Observed life-history differences among reservoir populations may result from consistent differences in environment, i.e. consistent differences in reservoir characteristics and local environmental influences. At the extremes, this could arise from 1) genetically similar populations responding to different environments (i.e. phenotypic plasticity), 2) different environments selecting for different traits, producing genetically different populations, or 3) differences unrelated to the environment, reflecting historical connectivity or stocking. In this study, I aimed to understand how largemouth bass (Micropterus nigricans) populations differ across the young reservoir landscape of Ohio, whether environmental characteristics are influencing this variation, and what mechanisms underlie this variation (e.g., phenotypic plasticity and natural selection). Largemouth bass are ecologically important and have a broad native distribution in North America and a broad naturalized distribution across five continents and across habitat types, making it an ideal species to study phenotypic and genetic spatial variation among populations. To address this, I used historical data from reservoirs across the state to describe patterns in largemouth bass life history traits, test for environmental correlates with those patterns, and group reservoirs based on these characteristics (Chapter 2); estimated the genetic relationships among Ohio populations o (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Worldwide urbanization and the concurrent increase in impermeable surfaces, such as parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, and other structures, have led to challenges managing runoff in cities. Improperly managed stormwater poses threats to public health, private property, and the environment. Countries worldwide are adopting the use of nature-based approaches known as green infrastructure (GI) to holistically treat environmental stressors resulting from urban development. GI is designed to mimic the natural, pre-development hydrology of the developed area while concurrently improving runoff quality. There are several GI approaches, including permeable pavements (PP), bioretention cells (BRC), and constructed stormwater wetlands (CSW), which can reduce runoff volume, delay and extend runoff timing, improve discharge water quality, and mitigate peak runoff rates from highly impervious catchments. PPs have been used worldwide for decades, but these systems remain infrequently implemented for stormwater management because of ambiguity related to maintaining their long-term hydraulic functionality due to clogging which reduces the PP surface infiltration rate (SIR) and therefore its performance. Measurements of the SIR can inform the extent of clogging, but at present there is a dearth of guidance on how to incorporate SIR data into dynamic PP maintenance plans. In the first chapter of my dissertation, I conducted a review of existing guidance documents to describe the current state of practice for SIR measurement methodologies, PP maintenance guidance, and the use of SIR outcomes to inform PP maintenance plans. Standard and alternative SIR assessment methodologies were described and compared, and modifications and recommendations were provided to clarify testing methods, streamline testing efficiency, and reduce the burden of SIR monitoring. Suggested modifications included requiring regular SIR testing, shortening the duration of SIR tests, and allowing for usage of mo (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Art

This collection of short stories and poems, accompanied by a glossary, is an ongoing diary about love, intimacy, domesticity, emotional maturation, and maternal inheritance, and is largely inspired by my Great Aunt Marge—major matriarch of the family, avid gardener, and hoarder. She had no children, but she was a mother. Psychic Garden considers the gut microbiome as one kind of garden and the gut as home to intuition. This writing is in close dialogue with, and perhaps in narration to, a body of work installed at Urban Arts Space from February 13th to March 16th, 2024, as part of The Ohio State University's MFA Thesis Exhibition titled Sun Spell.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, College-Conservatory of Music: Music (Musicology)

Pleasure gardens first came to prominence in early eighteenth-century London as venues where visitors from diverse social strata could promenade about the walks, enjoy entertainments, and see and be seen. In an issue of his Review of the State of the British Nation dated 25 June 1709, Daniel Defoe distinguishes seven social classes in England, including a group he describes as “the middle sort . . . who live the best, and consume the most . . . and with whom the general wealth of this nation is found.” Recognizing the potential to profit from the newfound wealth of the “middle sort” (and adjacent, similarly centralized socioeconomic groups), entrepreneurs marketed new leisure activities to them, including trips to London's three chief pleasure gardens: Marybone (also spelled Marylebone), Ranelagh, and Vauxhall. Although garden refreshments were notoriously overpriced, the cost of admission was relatively modest, enabling even those from the poorer classes to attend at least occasionally. At the other end of the social spectrum, the attendance of royal family members enhanced the prestige of the gardens. Music presided over the pleasure garden experience, facilitating exchanges amongst the classes and providing unprecedented opportunities for social emulation: the process whereby the “middle sort” could imitate their social superiors, and could themselves be admired and imitated. This dissertation examines the complex function(s) of music, musicians, and performance in London's three leading pleasure gardens—focusing primarily on their eighteenth-century heyday—and the intersections of these elements with the progression of capitalism and the commercialization of leisure. Through this examination, it reveals the pleasure gardens as apt stages for the social transgression, subversion, and emulation performed by garden visitors, and provides a more nuanced understanding of the role(s) that music, musical works, and musicians played in such performances.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Comparative Studies

This dissertation theorizes the concept of enchantment, articulating it as an orientation towards affects, embodied experiences, and material cultures. The experience of enchantment is amplified by confusing space and time, calling forth social fantasies, and attuning oneself to the natural world. Enchantment is also a potent energizing force, capable of transforming the world around it, whether by arranging subjects and relationships in ways that produce and maintain antiblackness, orientalism, and misogyny, or offering life-giving possibilities that resist the harm of hegemonic forces. Enchantment informs grotesque and fantastical representations of racialized subjects and encourages sustained investment in consumer practices that are never satisfied. Yet enchantment also resides in moments of respite, wonder, and nostalgia for subaltern people. This dissertation aligns the life-giving possibilities of enchantment with creative practice and expression, demonstrating how imagination and fantasy allow the formation of new and more expansive worlds where marginalized peoples can thrive. Yet even while engaging in liberative artistic praxis, subjects must often negotiate dominant capitalist and colonial logics that inform the materials and practices of their world-making.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Biology

When multiple avenues to cope with novel environments are available, understanding the interaction of mechanisms and which traits are involved provides a more complete picture of organismal responses. In many instances, the mechanism, i.e., whether phenotypic changes are environmentally induced (phenotypic plasticity) or evolved, is often unknown but has important consequences for population persistence. I investigate interactions between mechanisms of phenotypic changes and how interactions between suites of related traits shape organismal responses to novel environmental temperatures by using the climatic warming caused by the urban heat island effect. Specifically, I examine evolution in thermal traits (thermal melanin and thermal tolerance limits), in the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae L.), a common urban inhabitant. Further, I examine how evolution, or lack thereof, in these traits could be related to thermoregulatory behavior, as changes in behavior can mediate how organisms are exposed to selection. For thermal melanin, I found that wing melanin evolved to meet expectations based on thermal function, though responses were complicated by the multiple functions of melanin and the unique functions of melanin characters in each sex. For thermal tolerance, I found that there was no evidence of trait divergence between urban and rural populations, an outcome I expected based on the thermal flexibility, of P. rapae; however, I found that thermal limits were surprisingly not particularly plastic in response to temperature. Because of the complex responses found in thermal melanin and the surprising lack of thermal tolerance plasticity, I examined thermoregulatory behavior in urban and rural butterflies to see if behavioral differences could have influenced trait evolution. I found butterflies from both populations were able to maintain similar body temperatures through microhabitat selection. I also found that urban butterflies were more active in flight, p (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Creative Writing/Poetry

Terminal Body Outreach is a collection of poems that navigates the different maps of personhood, family, grief, intimacy, landscape, and the essence of who the speaker is and who the speaker is actively becoming, all with a focus on the "Body." "Terminal" signifies not only an end, but also a place of departure, a constant reaching or "Outreach" for something, somewhere, or someone. Readers are asked to develop associations between jumping language and image narratives that these poems invite. Self-portraits serve as touchstones in the manuscript, embodying the core movement of departure and return. The speaker searches through the Natural world and their interpersonal environment, particularly what seems to flower and perish, looking for answers to what makes this life necessary, sometimes without success. The desire for these answers slowly dissolves as the speaker is pulled by what and who they carry all the way to the end, where the speaker inhabits ideas of who we are once we're dead, whether or not dead really means gone, and the need to leave something plentiful behind.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Entomology

The Asiatic garden beetle, Maladera formosae (Brenske) (syn. M. castanea [Arrow]), is an annual white grub species that was introduced to North America 100 years ago and quickly established as a pest of turfgrass, ornamentals, and vegetables in the Mid-Atlantic states. Over time, economic damage to these crops by M. formosae became merely sporadic, though its geographic range continued to expand. Now, in 2022, it is reported in at least 25 states and two Canadian provinces. Unexpectedly, in the last 15 years M. formosae emerged as a significant, early-season pest of field corn grown in sandy soils of the Great Lakes region. The beetle overwinters in the soil as a grub and in the spring second and third instars feed on seedling corn roots shortly after planting, causing stand loss that can exceed 40%. Management is difficult and many chemical products used against other annual white grub species are ineffective against M. formosae. Many questions surround the recent emergence of this near-endemic species as a corn pest nearly 100 years after its introduction, and we are hampered in its study by a lack of research techniques designed for use in field crops, and by a lack of understanding of its basic life history in the climate and habitats of this region of the country. The overall goal of this research was to investigate the ecology and management of M. formosae in corn-soybean rotated agricultural systems of the Great Lakes region. At the time M. formosae emerged as a pest in the Great Lakes region, most available literature stemmed from horticultural settings of New York and New Jersey in the 1930s. Scouting for M. formosae grubs is problematic as the grubs are subterranean and adults are nocturnal, and no standardized sampling methods have been developed for the species. To develop sampling methods for grubs in corn-soybean rotated fields, I first evaluated the compact cutter, cup cutter, and wire-mesh bait station. The cup cutter, which takes a smaller but d (open full item for complete abstract)

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2022, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

Garden Party for me represents a story of growth, healing, and a testament to the resilience of kindness and friendship. Each of these five movements is named after a plant and responds to characters and people I see within them. From Croton to Calathea is a catalogue of ideas and takes us on a stroll along a path surrounded by plants of all types. Aralia Snowflake is soft, delicate, and buoyant, reminiscent of a pleasant walk with through the woods with a loved one. Poison Ivy blazes by quickly, is constantly on edge, and is a response to a sense of constriction. Arboreants (the big sibling to Aralia Snowflake) is a commemorative elegy to a grand, durable, and wonderfully beautiful copperhead beech tree which unfortunately has become sickly to an infecting parasite. In the final movement, Greenhouse, characters from the previous movements are combined together, reflecting on the journey of the full work. A performance of Garden Party lasts approximately 20 minutes. It is composed in five movements: No. 1 – From Croton to Calathea [5:00], No. 2 – Aralia Snowflake [3:00], No. 3 – Poison Ivy [3:00], No. 4 – Arboreants [4:00], & No. 5 – Greenhouse [5:00]. Garden Party was commissioned by the new music ensemble New Downbeat for their third premieres concert series. The work's premiere is April 4th, 2022 at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

BA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

The posthumous publication of Ernest Hemingway's The Garden of Eden raised questions within the academic community surrounding the topics of gender and sexuality. Though he is typically known as a writer who favors heterosexual and heavily masculine themes, this novel challenges those notions by introducing aspects such as same-sex experimentation, gender role reversal, and the complicated dynamic of a three-person relationship. The first portion of this thesis focuses on the establishment of the aforementioned qualities within the novel, supporting and further arguing that the elements blatantly reject what is typically discussed about Hemingway's works. In addition, the film adaption of the novel is evaluated at length in order to understand a more modern response to his work within popular culture. Finally, this thesis explores two short stories, Mr. and Mrs. Elliot and The Sea Change. As both of the stories are cited as early blueprints to The Garden of Eden, their inclusion suggests Hemingway began thinking of these time-period taboos long before the 1986 publication of the novel. The overall argument emphasizes the importance of rereading and revisiting the Hemingway canon in order to bring more continuous and evolved conversation into academia and popular culture at large.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2020, Environmental Studies

Due to increases in impervious areas and the effects of climate change, many cities are coping with increased flooding. Rain gardens have been increasing in popularity as one of the best management practicing (BMP) technique for stormwater management. Many research studies focus on the water quality aspects of rain gardens but tend to neglect the potential water management and infiltration benefits. By evaluating the soil properties, drainage area, and plant benefits, a rain garden could offer a more efficient stormwater BMP. This thesis produced a preliminary procedure to properly create a mass balance of an established rain garden to explore a rain garden's stormwater management properties.

MFA, Kent State University, 2020, College of the Arts / School of Art

Suffering is a universal experience which exists in varying degrees. An injured soul seeks protection from what has harmed it, and can seek safety in withdrawal, isolation, depression or mania. My thesis work is a vessel for coping and healing, and the thinking that lies behind it. I use biomorphic forms that cluster, cover and consume the wearer as the physical manifestation of emotional shelter. These adornments, referencing magic, tarot, and fantasy, are imbued with a protective and healing aura. This sense of protection, in whatever form it takes, acts as armor fortifying the wearer and allowing them to confront their trauma.

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2017, Environmental Sciences

The sustainability drive for the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden started in 2006. The Zoo continues to expand its sustainability initiatives, which include green buildings, water conservation, energy efficiency, waste management, education, and many others. For my practicum project, I developed a sustainability report to showcase their green practices and educate people on sustainable living. The report will be accessible to the public to increase transparency about their sustainability efforts. In order to complete the sustainability report, I researched the initiatives and background information on sustainability topics. I also reviewed websites of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) institutions to determine how they reported sustainability and identified best practices. I worked closely with the Sustainability Communities Advocate to ensure the content met the needs for the sustainability report. To continue to improve upon the sustainability efforts, I provided the following recommendations: 1) sustainability initiatives should be updated regularly throughout their website and sustainability report; 2) upkeep of the sustainability report should be conducted regularly by sustainability interns and overseen by the Sustainability Communities Advocate; 3) a master plan detailing specific objectives and timelines for each sustainability initiative should be created.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2017, Art History (Fine Arts)

This thesis studies Zhang Yuan (Zhang Family Garden), a public garden in semi-colonial Shanghai founded by Wuxi merchant Zhang Shuhe (1850-1919). Opened in 1885 and closed in 1919, Zhang Yuan, along with other Chinese public gardens, was one the most popular venues for the public to experience the newly imported Western-style practices and ideas in urban Shanghai. However, scholarship on the urban history of Shanghai overlooks this critical field and focuses instead on Western-style schools, companies, and print industry. I propose that commercialized entertainment gardens, such as Zhang Yuan, better illustrate the negotiation between the established and the imported which marked the permeation of changes in late 19th and early 20th century Shanghai. In addition, this thesis approaches Zhang Yuan as a fluidly constructed social space to reveal the interconnections between changes in various integrated social areas. I frame the garden within the geopolitical transformation of semi-colonial Shanghai, map its architectural design in relationship to the developing built environment, and understand it through the ever-changing leisure pursuits. As a garden evolving with the urban culture of the city, Zhang Yuan illustrates the disappearing boundary between participating in the newly imported entertainments and advocating for sociopolitical reform. Such an interchangeability between popular culture and political discourse underlined the fluidity of changes in late Qing and early Republican Shanghai.

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, Art

When people ask:" Do you consider yourself a modern scholar?” My answer is unclear. I aim to build my personal system of rules through my interpretations and understandings of the ancient "Scholar Culture". I am intrigued by how a shadow can reflect the world both in front and behind a window. I utilize the window as a means to observe nature. Nature behind my window are always shifting between clarity and haze. The hazier nature becomes, the more curious I am. I am still on the way to discover understanding - nature is calling.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2017, Entomology

Squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae; Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) is a serious insect pest of squash and pumpkins in the United States and can cause 100% crop loss in gardens and 25% crop loss in commercial crops. The pest can be controlled by frequent applications of insecticide, but growers are seeking control tactics that are more sustainable. Several chemical and non-chemical tactics for managing M. cucurbitae were evaluated for this project. A field trial was conducted three times to test the use of unharvested zucchini as a trap crop for a cash crop of zucchini. Three factors were compared at each at two levels: harvest status, planting time, and row covers. The infestation rate of M. cucurbitae in earlier plantings was significantly higher than in late plantings. Unharvested plants and row covers had inconsistent effects; infestation was higher in unharvested plants than harvested plants in two of three trials, and infestation was higher in plants started under row covers than no covers in two of three trials. Earlier planted zucchini had higher yields than late plantings, while row covers had no influence on yield. A field trial was conducted in each of two years to test the effect of delayed planting time and row covers on infestation of M. cucurbitae at a garden scale. All of the garden sites had early and late plantings of zucchini, and half of the gardens used row covers. In both years, zucchini planted earlier had higher infestation rates compared to later plantings, but the differences were statistically significant in only one year. Zucchini without row covers had higher infestation rates but the differences were not significant either year. Earlier plantings had higher yields than later plantings. A field trial on chemical control of M. cucurbitae on zucchini evaluated the efficacy of three insecticides applied at various frequencies, in each of two years. Insecticide applications began after M. cucurbitae adults were consistently caught (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Entomology

Bees (Anthophila) worldwide have been experiencing a recent decline in species diversity, abundance, and genetic diversity. There have been many factors implicated in these declines: loss of habitat and resources, urbanization, disease, parasites, pesticides, and heavy metals. I focus here on urbanization, and how the creation of anthropogenically-dominated landscapes influences the structure of bee communities, and heavy metal exposure in bee populations. Derelict habitats within cities are often called vacant lands, areas where previously-built parcels have been repurposed as unbuilt, weedy areas. As local citizens do not fully appreciate the benefits of these habitats, many are transformed by citizen groups into urban gardens, which are valued for local, fresh produce and community revitalization. Pollination services are required in gardens in order to produce fruit of many crops, and depend upon a diverse and abundant bee community to visit flowers. We analyzed bee abundance, diversity, and community structure in order to determine what can be done to maintain or increase pollination services in gardens, as well as the contribution of vacant land to pollinator community stability and pollination services in garden habitats. We found that bee abundance was greater in garden habitats, but this does not necessarily confer pollination services. Bee diversity and pollination services did not differ between habitats in two studies. However, bee visitation behavior and bee community structure differed between habitats, and importance should be given to species-specific interactions to determine what may encourage conservation of bee communities. Another negative legacy of urban areas is a high environmental level of heavy metals. The city of Cleveland has an ecological history of heavy metal deposition due to use of leaded paints and fuels, as well as more specific point sources such as manufacturing sites. Heavy metal contamination is known to be a concern fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, University of Akron, 2016, Computer Science

Mobile devices are rapidly becoming the new medium of educational and social life for young people, and mobile educational games have become an important mechanism for learning. To enhance plant science learning, we developed a mobile educational game with Unity3D game engine and Kii cloud data storage named Little Botany, where players can create their own dream gardens in any season and at any location on earth. The virtual gardens created in Little Botany are augmented with real-world information. Little Botany uses real-time weather data for the garden location to simulate how weather affects plant growth. The game also teaches users how to take care plants on a daily basis. With education modules provided in Little Botany, users can also learn about plant structure and chemical reaction as photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration.