Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

According to the United States Veterans Administration (VA), a veteran is defined as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.” When transitioning to civilian-student life from military life, many veterans experience a variety of challenges that can facilitate or frustrate their successful transition, including finding and selecting a university, meeting its entrance requirements (e.g. ACT/SAT scores, high school transcripts) and enrolling in GI Bill education benefits. In order to assess the challenges of today’s veteran-scholars at Kent State University (KSU), I use focus group interviews with current KSU veterans as identified by the Center for Adult and Veteran Services.

My study explores three broad issues related to KSU veterans (re)assuming the college role: responsibilities and relationships (e.g. family, independent living), financial constraints and assimilating to the student role. Student veterans face unique challenges because they are dealing with the demands and challenges of adulthood while also assimilating to the student role and adjusting to the cultural norms of college life.

I examine the transitions to civilian life by focusing on the start or resumption of the college student role at KSU, including the resources available to help veterans pursuing higher education. This study highlights the current opportunities and challenges that exist when considering veterans and their progress towards earning a college degree.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the bone marrow (BM) and blood in which the BM produces abnormal myeloblasts. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGF-A) induces blood vessel formation that contributes to tumor growth, and inhibitors of VEGF-A are used clinically. However cancer cells acquire resistance to these drugs leading to recurrence, so we are exploring alternative pathways that could lead to novel anti-VEGF-A therapeutics. Recent studies using RNA-seq analysis have shown the importance of alternatively spliced isoforms in cancer, particularly those encoding proteins with different functions. With our interest in adult AML we have generated a computational pipeline to analyze RNA-seq databases to compare the isoform expression of VEGF-A in AML BM samples with that in healthy BM samples. We asked whether VEGF-A was highly expressed in AML and whether it’s alternative mRNA splice forms were differentially expressed in leukemia BM cells compared to normal BM cells. We have successfully identified altered VEGF-A isoform expression in adult AML but not pediatric AML. This suggests different cancer processes are prevalent in adult vs pediatric disease and warrants a further examination of other cancer types.

We used biophysics techniques to study the behavior of the single molecule human i-motif DNA structure as a function of the pH of its surroundings. We found that the molecule folds into a compact state around pH 6.0. We used FRET trace to observing the behavior of the molecule as it folds in a common imaging buffer of time-variant pH.

Mindfulness meditation is a meditation technique which has one focus his/her attention on the present moment by acknowledging and allowing one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations to pass without judgment. For the past 35 years, mindfulness has been a growing research topic in psychological literature. However, research regarding mindfulness and its ability to help children overcome their reading anxiety is sparse. In this study, I was interested in investigating the effects of a mindfulness meditation intervention on students’ reading anxiety, trait mindfulness, efficacy, and reading comprehension. I hypothesized students who received the mindfulness intervention would show significant improvement in those areas when compared to students who did not receive the intervention. To test this hypothesis, students enrolled in a five-week corrective reading intervention program took pre-assessments to measure levels of reading anxiety, efficacy, trait mindfulness, and reading comprehension. They were then randomly assigned to one of two groups—mindfulness intervention or control. The mindfulness group practiced the intervention for five weeks, while the control group only received the intervention in the fifth week. Following the intervention, post-treatment assessments were taken to measure any changes in the variables. Results indicated a main effect of time for reading anxiety. Subsequent analyses suggested that mindfulness may have influenced this main effect of time as the mindfulness group had a greater decrease in anxiety, suggesting that the intervention may have influenced the change in anxiety. This has important implications for education, as practicing mindfulness in the classroom may help struggling students succeed.

When creating lesson plans for students in K-12 classrooms, a key focus among teachers is to help students create connections between content learned in the classroom and experiences students have had in their lifetimes. Education in the most prevailing countries in the world is continually adapting in order to utilize the most current research findings and technological advancements. As revolution continues in these classrooms, many developing countries have fallen behind. Specifically, in Haiti, many environmental concerns have been identified, and no one is more aware of these issues than its citizens. The major challenge is that schools are limited in their ability to prepare teachers, while resources to utilize modern pedagogies in an effective way are not feasible.

In a recent study in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, findings showed that although students, teachers, and administrators were very aware of the struggles of their country, they felt that there were limited options for resolutions. Additionally, many of these innovations involved finances which are not available. Interviews were conducted with Haitians of various backgrounds and beliefs. A consistent concern among participants was the lack of opportunity for satisfactory cultivation in problem solving, leadership, and career preparation.

Education was determined to be the root at which the most fundamental problems can be addressed. Youth development opportunities are being designed to prepare students to push Haiti towards development. In order to accomplish this, students must be engaged in the classroom, so teachers must be trained to ensure that project-based learning and inquiry practices are being implemented.