Dissertation Completion Grants
Dissertation Completion Grants are awarded to doctoral students on a competitive basis. The grant is to help support students enrolled in a doctoral program at Illinois State to complete their dissertation and graduate from their program within two years.
2021 Award Winners
Ansumana Darboe
Educational Administration and Foundations
Committee Chair: Dr. Mohamed Nur-Awaleh & Dr. Lydia Kyei-Blankso
A Study of African Students in Community Colleges
This dissertation is a study of African students in community colleges. In particular, the research examines the motivations as well as the experiences of African students in the two-year institutions in the United States. Through a qualitative study and using semi-structured interviews, the research sought the perspectives of 8-12 African international students in two community colleges in Illinois. Additional data sources for this research include university documents such as international admission brochures as well as documents from African student associations. Theoretically, this research utilizes two conceptual frameworks: The Bohman international student community college decision model and the Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory. The two theories complement each other as one helps in exploring the journey of African students while the other helps examine their experiences. Specifically, the Bohman international student community college decision model useful in understanding the factors that motivate African international students to study in community colleges, while Hofstede’s cultural theory will be useful in exploring how cultural dimensions influence the experiences of African students in the colleges. The findings of this study will help institutions and student affairs professionals in addressing the unique needs of the African international student population in community colleges.
Anthony Breitenbach
School of Biological Sciences
Committee Chair: Dr. Rachel Bowden & Dr. Ryan Paitz
Effects of Heat Wave Timing, Continuity, and Fluctuating Temperatures on Sexual Development and Underlying Gene Expression in a Turtle with Temperature-dependent Sex Determination
The thermal environment can have complex effects on an organism, but most of what we know about how temperature influences organisms comes from studies that utilized constant temperatures. Because almost all organisms live in environments where temperatures fluctuate, using constant conditions can produce spurious results. With the rapidly changing climate, there is an increased urgency to understand how organisms respond to more variable temperatures. If heat waves increase in frequency and duration as predicted, it is necessary to understand how heat waves could affect thermally sensitive species, such as reptiles with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), in which sex is determined by temperatures experienced during embryonic development. The red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta) exhibits a type of TSD in which cool temperatures produce males and warm temperatures produce females. The development of the bipotential gonads into ovaries or testes is regulated by gene networks induced at warmer or cooler temperatures, respectively. In the proposed research, we use ecologically relevant temperatures to determine how heat wave timing and continuity affects sex ratios and underlying gene expression in T. scripta. The proposed research utilizes fluctuating temperatures and heat waves to more accurately reflect natural conditions.
Kate Neally
School of Teaching and Learning
Committee Chair: Dr. Allison Antink Meyer
An Analysis of the Underrepresentation of Minorities in STEM Education
The purpose of this study is (1) to better understand URMs’ positive educational experiences that led to majoring in STEM or education; (2) to examine the experiences that have challenged URMs’ success in STEM or education; and (3) to investigate the reasons why URMs are not interested in pursuing STEM education. The urgency of this research is based on the statistics indicating the low representation of URMs in STEM fields, teaching fields, and specifically STEM teachers. It will highlight the positive experiences of URMs that support an interest in STEM and education; but also, analyze how systemic racism in schools affects URM students’ interest and academic success in STEM education. In this study, original surveys and individual interviews will be used to collect data. The participants will be URM STEM and education majors. Critical Race Theory framework will focus this research on how race and racism in schools causes unequal educational opportunities for minority students. This phenomenological study can add rich information to areas in education that are still experiencing racism and better understand the influence of educational experiences on URMs’ pursuit of STEM, education, and STEM education.
Kerri Langdon-Fisher
Educational Administration and Foundations
Committee Chair: Dr. Phyllis McCluskey-Titus
Understanding Female Millennial Administrators and their Perceptions and Experiences of Leadership in the Community College
This research is intended to qualitatively explore and examine the perceptions and experiences of female community college administrators, who were born in the Millennial generation, as it relates to leadership. For the purposes of this study, the Millennial generation refers to individuals born between 1981 – 1996. It is important to note that the stories and lived experiences of females who identify as part of the Millennial generation, working within community college administration, are neglected. Because of this neglect, research is needed to explore and gain an understanding of how leadership is perceived and experienced. More specifically, this study proposes to better understand how gender may impact Millennial women’s perceptions of leadership overall, as well as their perceived ability to move into senior-level leadership roles within the community college. What differentiates this study from other studies on leadership, specifically within the community college, is its focus on women and the female perspective through which leadership is perceived, while also taking into consideration generation identification. By utilizing a feminist lens to conduct this research, an opportunity to add to the growing expanse of leadership literature is presented.
Margaret DeMaegd
School of Biological Sciences
Committee Chair: Dr. Wolfgang Stein
Neuromodulators rescue neuronal activity from heat stress
Changes in body temperature pose a challenge to the nervous system and can lead to disruptions of motor control and vital behaviors. Neuronal activity requires the spread of electrical signals throughout the neuron to initiate action potentials required for those vital behaviors. Acute temperature changes disrupt these processes. It has recently been suggested that neuromodulators – paracrine chemicals released within the brain - may help to restore neuronal activity. It is currently unknown how these neuromodulators achieve temperature compensation. I hypothesize that elevated temperatures prevent neuronal activity by hindering the intraneuronal spread of electrical signals, however neuromodulation re-establishes signal spread and with it, neuronal activity. I test this hypothesis by measuring signal spread in an identified motor neuron at varying temperatures, and separately in the presence of a neuropeptide modulator known to rescue that neuron's activity at high temperatures. To determine whether the cellular actions elicited by the neuropeptide enable temperature compensation, I use a computer-brain interface to manipulate the ionic current elicited by the neuropeptide. Because ionic currents are ubiquitous across species, this will provide broad insight into the role of neuromodulators for temperature compensation and the mechanisms by which they act.
Rachael DiSciullo
School of Biological Sciences
Committee Chair: Dr. Scott Sakaluk & Dr. Charles Thompson
Multivariate sexual selection on male song in northern house wrens
Beautiful and abundant, bird song as a sexually selected trait has long captured the attention of biologists. Although previous studies have examined single facets of bird song in relation to male competition and female choice, selection typically acts on multiple components that collectively influence male mating success. By studying how multiple components of song simultaneously play a role in male competition and female choice, we can better understand how sexual selection has directly and indirectly shaped this elaborate and complex trait. I aim to identify which potentially correlated components of male song are sexually selected in northern house wrens (Troglodytes aedon), small songbirds with highly complex, multi-component songs. Male song in this species appears important in male competition and female choice, yet the particular components that elicit the most intense aggression in males, or are most attractive to females, remain unknown. My research will address how sexual selection has shaped male song by testing the hypotheses that (1) male reproductive success is influenced by different song components, and (2) males and females respond differently to synthesized songs differing in putative quality of components.
Rachel Smith
School of Teaching and Learning
Committee Chair: Dr. Erin Mikulec
Non-Tenure Track Faculty Perceptions of Preparedness to Teach and Pedagogical Support in Postsecondary Education
U.S. universities rely heavily on a workforce to educate undergraduate students without intimate knowledge of the supports needed for those employees to fulfill the expectations of their positions. With estimates ranging from 50% to 70% of faculty in U.S. higher education being categorized as Non-Tenure Track (NTT), post-secondary education has moved from a model of predominately Tenure Track (TT) faculty to one of NTT being the new faculty majority (Bergman, 2011; Holler, 2014; Kezar, 2014; Hensely, 2016). Much of the literature pertaining to NTT focuses on pay equity, working conditions, job protection, and the exploration of how the inversion of the professoriate occurred with little focus on the experiences of the NTT faculty (Feldman & Turnley, 2001; Fuller et al., 2017). This qualitative study explores NTT faculty’s perceptions of pedagogical preparedness when they began teaching at the postsecondary level as well as how these individuals describe pedagogical support they receive. Pedagogical supports evaluated include professional development, evaluations, orientations, and sociopolitical factors impacting the NTT experience. Interviews with NTT faculty, administrators, faculty developers and labor union representatives as well as document review inform the study.
Rachel Sparks
School of Biological Sciences
Committee Chair: Dr. Rebekka Darner
Enabling students' transformative experiences and conceptual change regarding evolution through culturally relevant instruction
My dissertation strives to identify pedagogical methods that enable students’ understanding of evolution, such that they use it outside of class to inform their experiences and decisions. While biologists view evolutionary theory as biology’s unifying principle, this view is not emphasized to nonscientists and pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs), which is problematic given that many PSETs are expected to teach evolutionary ideas. Evolution is widely recognized as a culturally laden topic, yet the science education community lacks a curricular resource to teach evolution inclusively and equitably. I have developed an introductory biology course utilizing the Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science model to make evolution relevant to students’ everyday lives to encourage conceptual change. Through four iterations, quantitative data have been collected through a conceptual knowledge assessment and a survey assessing how students perceive evolution as relevant to their lives. Preliminary data show significant gains in evolution knowledge and evidence of students applying evolution to their lives. All course work was collected as qualitative data, including written and video reflections designed to elicit students' perceptions of how evolution relates to their lives, which are currently being analyzed. This research may reframe how biology is taught, inclusively and equitably, to nonscientists.
Rosario Marroquin-Flores
School of Biological Sciences
Committee Chair: Dr. Rachel Bowden & Dr. Ryan Paitz
Thermal fluctuations produce ecologically relevant profiles for hormone signaling and gene expression in a species with temperature-dependent sex determination
Sex determination refers to the process by which cues from genes (genotypic sex determination) or environmental conditions (environmental sex determination) trigger bipotential gonads to develop into either ovaries or testes. Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is a well-studied form of environmental sex determination in reptiles. The red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) exhibits a form of TSD where cool incubation temperatures produce males and warm incubation temperatures produce females. In species with TSD, gonadal differentiation is regulated by network of genes and hormones that induce male or female development. TSD is most frequently studied using constant male and female incubation temperatures, which fail to capture the variability that organisms experience in the wild. In the proposed research, we use ecologically relevant laboratory incubations to understand the underlying mechanisms organizing the sex-determining process in T. scripta. Fluctuating incubations are used to produce ecologically relevant expression profiles for sex-determining genes and to decouple the effects of temperature and hormone environment on gonadal differentiation. This study represents the first time that fluctuating temperatures and hormones have been used in concert to characterize the the molecular mechanisms underlying TSD.
Tara Davis-Augspurger
Educational Administration and Foundations
Committee Chair: Dr. Lydia Kyei-Blankson
Faculty Voices in Faculty-Led Programs Abroad
My research study explores the experiences of faculty members who develop and lead study abroad programs for students enrolled in higher education institutions. The principal research questions are: What motivates faculty members to become involved in the development and implementation of short-term study abroad programs? What was involved in creating and leading the short-term, faculty-led program? What obstacles did they encounter and how did they overcome them? What did students gain from their participation in the program? What could institutions do to better support them in the development and facilitation of short-term study abroad? Using qualitative methodology, I will interview 10-15 faculty members to understand their perceptions and experiences engaging in this work. The results of this study will give voice to faculty members to inform institutions on how to use policy and practice to further support faculty in developing educational exchanges for students.