Strengthening Equitable Culturally Responsive Environments" (SECURE) for Student Success": Using a Servingness Model to Support Hispanic and Underrepresented Students

"Strengthening Equitable Culturally Responsive Environments? (SECURE) for Student Success?: Using a Servingness Model to Support Hispanic and Underrepresented Students? is designed to expand the number of Hispanic and underrepresented (URM) students in Art, Health Sciences, Engineering, Computer Science and the STEM disciplines and close equity gaps in achievement. We expect to positively impact over 5,000 students while building a sustainable faculty community of practice. Our proposal includes programs and services in support of four major goals: ? Increase enrollment, improve academic performance (retention/graduation rates) and eliminate equity gaps. ? Expand and enhance curriculum, research fellowships, and culturally-relevant, work-based learning experiences in in-demand industry sectors. ? Support and increase faculty capacity to plan and implement culturally relevant pedagogies, proactive advisement and mentoring. ? Develop a ?Servingness? model and culturally enhancing academic experiences to support mental health, emotional wellbeing, and academic outcomes. For background, CSUN?s nationally recognized AIMS2 program supported by consecutive Title III USDE grants served over 3,500 students. It has improved academic achievement, transfer success, degree completion, career preparation, and research skills of Hispanic and URM students. Aligned with the strategic directions from CSUN?s Road Ahead, the 2021 CSUN STEM-ESS Institute, and CSUN?s HSI Equity Innovation Hub, we are uniquely positioned to advance the priorities in the DHSI RFP with a diverse team of faculty and staff from five CSUN colleges, and two partner community colleges. Our overall goal is to increase CSUN?s capacity to recruit, enroll, retain, Hispanic and URM students and prepare them for career success.
2757 1 A wide range of studies examines the relationship between diet and the gut microbiome (GM). There is great interest in understanding the effect of a 'Western', high-fat, low-fiber diet on the GM given the negative health outcomes associated with it. As a result, it has been clearly demonstrated that a reduction in dietary fiber, including high ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption, has a negative effect on fiber-degrading taxa and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production. However, other dietary components, such as fermented foods (FFs), are less well-studied despite equally great potential for impacts on the GM and health. Due to their combined probiotic and prebiotic qualities, FFs are believed to be an essential dietary supplement in many cultures. Few population-based studies examine the long-term impacts of variation in FF consumption on either the GM or host health. This proposal specifically targets diet intervention with differential FF intake to begin to understand these relationships. We propose to increase FF consumption and assess associated changes in the GM and immune inflammatory markers in ahealthy group of emerging adults (aged 18-25 years) with dietary habits characterized by a low intake of fibers and FFs. Specifically, we aim to: 1) Identify changes in GM taxa and functional characteristics associated with the increased FF consumption; and 2) Determine how FF differentially affects host health biomarkers. It is expected the results from this study will broaden the field of diet-GM research, identifying the magnitude of effect of other dietary components beyond macronutrients and fiber.
2759 1 This project aims to constrain the erosion history of the northern Sierra Nevada and fingerprint the sources of its rich Cenozoic sedimentary record to test hypotheses for possible along-strike variability in the history and causes of Sierra Nevada topographic uplift. The Sierra Nevada of California is the classic example of a continental magmatic arc system and has repeatedly served as a testing ground for new analytical techniques. However, despite common treatment as a single orogenic and topographic feature, the northern Sierra (north of 38°N) is characterized by subdued relief and a patchwork of relatively limited and shallowly emplaced Cretaceous plutons, contrasting dramatically with the deep canyons, soaring granitic cliffs, pervasive Cretaceous intrusions, and deeper exposures of the iconic southern Sierra Nevada. Moreover, the northern Sierra preserves a unique record of the surface history through the preservation of Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks in paleovalley systems; this record is absent in the south. Owing to this dichotomy, paleoaltimetry, paleogradient, and detrital zircon studies have almost wholly focused on the northern Sierra where materials appropriate for these analyses are preserved, while >98% of apatite crystals dated by (U-Th)/He thermochronology to constrain the Sierran erosion history are from the southern Sierra. This duality of study has hindered progress toward a unified uplift theory for the range. Here we propose to: 1) acquire basement (U-Th)/He data along two range-perpendicular transects in the northern Sierra Nevada, with a focus on sampling both the modern valley and paleovalley bottoms, the latter immediately below the E-O gravels, and 2) obtain laser-ablation (U-Th)/(He-Pb) double dates coupled with Hf isotope data on targeted detrital zircon (DZ) subpopulations in the E-O gravels to discriminate local vs. extra-regional gravel sources, which is not possible with the DZ U-Pb data alone. The integrated basement-detrital datasets will: 1) constrain whether (U-Th)/He data patterns are similar or different between the northern and southern Sierras, with implications for synchronous or diachronous range-wide uplift histories, and 2) definitively determine the position of the Eocene drainage divide in the northern Sierra, which informs the larger scale geometry of paleotopography from the Sierras eastward into an interior plateau. These outcomes will be used to test competing hypotheses for the history and causes of Sierra Nevada uplift and contribute to a unified view of Sierran topographic evolution.
2774 1 The purpose of this program is to prevent health and behavioral health risks (e.g., suicide, depression, homelessness, drug use, HIV) and to promote well-being for LGBTQI+ youth in the context of their families/caregivers, cultures, and communities by establishing LGBTQI+ family counseling and support programs and training providers on family counseling and support interventions.
2775 0 Coral reefs have become depleted of corals, and many species are entering a period of rarity that might be a prelude to extinction. Traditional ecological tools are inadequate to enumerate these corals, which is the first step in quantifying the risk of extinction and the prospects for recovery. AUVs with AI have advanced to a feasible, yet untested technology that can be applied to such biological grand challenges of the 21st Century. We request $300k for a 2 yr, high-risk project that will forge a collaboration between a coral ecologist and a robotics engineer, and between a Hispanic-serving 4 y institution (CSUN) and a leading marine science institution (WHOI). We will conduct research in St. John, USVI, where we will challenge the WHOI?s Curious Underwater Robot for Ecosystem Exploration (CUREE) in a test bed created by the information legacies of 37 y of time-series analyses of coral reefs, and the iconic pillar (Dendrogyra cylindrus) and brain (Pseudiploria, Diploria) corals, that are being pushed to extirpation by sudden coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD).
2776 0 The Northridge Consulting Group is part of the Management Department in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge ? the largest, minority-serving campus in the Los Angeles area. Our goal is to positively impact underserved, vulnerable, and special needs communities in the greater LA region. With this in mind, we aim to improve the performance of public, private and non-profit organizations through research, performance management development, program evaluation and training initiatives. The project team has decades of experience working with public service programs in the City of Los Angeles, throughout the state and internationally. Although evaluating the overall performance of the FamilySource System differs from evaluating the contractor performance, the method for doing so can (and should) build upon the data collected in the Contractor Certification System. We shall begin assessing the overall FSC System by clearly defining the strategic goals the system was intended to accomplish, then translating these goals into SMART goals (via the process described earlier). Then, we shall identify benchmarks from the previous years against which the current FSC System can be measured. Specifically, we outline a six-step process for developing an appropriate methodology and conducting the initial evaluation. Step 1: Establish an FSC System Evaluation Workgroup: In conjunction with HCID staff, we shall build a workgroup to develop the method for evaluating the FSC System. Not only does the workgroup tap the deep expertise of the staff, it also provides a vehicle for transferring some our evaluation expertise to the HCID staff. We recommend that the workgroup also include both contractor and Community Action Board representatives. Step 2: Define Strategic Goals: The workgroup shall define the strategic goals against which FSC System performance will be measured. Specifically: · ?No Wrong Door? Policy · Collaboration through the Consortium Model · Targeted service areas and co-location · Leveraging resources · Accountability for performance outcomes This vision serves as the starting point for defining SMART goals and will then be used in FSC System evaluation. Again, we believe that the best set of SMART goals will emerge from a collaboration between the contractor and HCID staff. Step 3: Develop Measures for Each Goal: Once goals are established, the workgroup will identify ways to measure their accomplishment. Here, we believe data from the SOFA system aggregated to the system level will be very valuable. Other important data may come from administrative records. Some data may need to be collected, perhaps as part of the satisfaction surveys or during normal monitoring visits to contractors. Step 4: Present Proposed Methodology: Following Steps 1 through 3, the project team shall present a written protocol for the method to be approved by HCID. Upon acceptance of the method, data collection and analysis will begin. Step 5: Collect and Assemble Data: Once the measures for the goals are established, the project team will collect the data identified and assemble it into a format that will allow analysis. An analysis will be conducted to assess progress toward each goal in the first program year. Step 6: Prepare Six-Month Progress Report: Based on available data, the project team shall assemble a ?Six-Month Progress Report? reflecting the FSCs? System progress in the first six months. Once again, this report shall include key infographics.
2777 1 As mitigation for the effects of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), Southern California Edison Company (SCE) was required by the California Coastal Commission to construct an artificial reef large enough to sustain 150 acres of kelp forest. Several performance standards must be met in order for SCE to receive full credit for the mitigation provided by the artificial reef. The proposed work will gather data necessary to evaluate three of the performance standards: that (1) reproductive rates of fishes, (2) fish production, and (3) benthic community food-chain support for fishes are similar on the Wheeler J. North Reef to that on natural reefs within the region. Fishes will be collected on the artificial reef and two natural reefs used as reference, San Mateo Kelp and Barn Kelp, from late spring through early autumn in 2022 and 2023. A suite of abundant and important kelp forest fishes will be targeted for this work: kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus), California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher), señorita (Oxyjulis californica), blacksmith (Chromis punctipinnis), and black perch (Embiotoca jacksoni). Gonads, otoliths, and digestive tracts will be dissected from the fishes, and they will be used to determine reproductive rates, growth rates, and feeding success of the targeted fishes. These data will be used to assess the three performance standards and determine whether the artificial reef is functioning similarly to the natural reefs.
2779 1 This proposal seeks NEH funding to enable the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center to create a publicly available digital archive of the Freedom and Peace Movements Ccollection's images, the development of a multimedia documentary website that will use the newly created digital images, oral histories, and other publicly available digital resources to illuminate several significant events that shaped the Black Freedom Movement in the South and on the West Coast, and the Peace Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. The website will feature a digital exhibition of key events presented through photographic essays that will serve as points of entry to these stories and guide users to digital and non-digital educational resources about these events that transformed the country.
2780 0 Increasing availability of satellite multidimensional data netcdf files opens the possibility to analyze the temporal and spatial variation of large time series of Ocean/Earth systems variables using GIS, programming, and visualization tools. Multi- sensor and multi- variable analysis give the opportunity to find covariation between physical variables and processes and to identify anomalies in the time series that can be associated to biological, ocean and terrestrial events. The study area will be the Bering Strait/Bering Sea and the coast of Alaska. This is an active NASA area of research of importance to understand the effects of climate warming because its proximity to the Arctic, the shallowness of the Bering Strait, and the mixing between sea and fresh water from multiple rivers including the Yukon river. The project will enhance P.I. research capabilities in using large archive time series of satellite data for spatial and temporal analysis; in using statistical analysis including machine learning to find association between physical variables and processes; and in building expertise in hands on research in physical oceanography and Earth Science Applications, areas of great potential within NASA SD to develop future ROSES proposals and research. This proposal builds into recent research conducted by Vazquez et al. co-P.I, of this project.
2781 1 The team will focus on analyzing existing municipal stormwater data. Industrial pollution is an area of concern, but there is decent accountability under the Industrial General Permit, and unfortunately that accountability is lacking in the Municipal Stormwater Permit. But there is a lot of data out there in sites like CEDEN. The team would focus on in-stream data associated with the Municipal Permit, to capture the whole picture of water quality from various sources. This project would be to show temporal trends (are things getting better or worse). This project will incorporate the last 5 years of data, and also add in the aspect of who is impacted by worsening water quality. Determine which communities are most vulnerable, especially Disadvantaged Communities (DACs).
2783 1 Theoretical models featuring different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the acceleration of the solar wind, including models in which coronal heating results from the dissipation of magnetohydro- dynamic (MHD) turbulence, e.g., Alfvén-wave turbulence. For a reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) model between 1 and 20 solar radii, Alfvén waves traveling outward from the Sun are reflected by gradients in the Alfvén speed. Nonlinear interactions between the outward and inward propagating waves create turbulence, and transfer wave energy either to smaller perpendicular scales ?direct cascade? or to larger scales ?inverse cascade.? The cascade of wave energy to small-length scales may heat and accelerate the solar wind. We will investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of physical and dynamical parameters of different coronal and solar wind regions in order to constraint an RMHD model and address the following questions: 1) What are the physical, dynamical, and topological properties of solar wind regions, and how they initiate and influence the Alfvénic cascade? And 2) How does the background atmospheric model input influence the RMHD theoretical predictions of the amplitude of inward and outward propagating waves, and as a consequence the heating rate, in solar wind source regions? This investigation will use data from currently-operating mis- sions of the Heliophysics System Observatory; namely, PSP, STEREO, SDO, SOHO, and Solar Orbiter when available, combined with time series analysis and magnetic potential field extrapo- lations. Observations will be used to both define the background atmosphere and benchmark an RMHD model.
2784 0 The proposed project is to create a multi-disciplinary team to address health inequities present in an aging population of congenital heart defect patients. The AIM-AHEAD PAIR award will allow our research team to develop a project to address access to quality health care in congenital heart patients while also strengthening the artificial intelligence and machine learning resources for CSUN.