Crossing Boundaries Research Award

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1. Satisfactory Academic Progress. Students must have and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students with an Incomplete (I) or Grade Pending (GP) on their student record from CGU must resolve the ‘I’ or the ‘GP’ before applying for the award. Students with an ‘Unsatisfactory’ (U) on their record from CGU are not eligible for the award.
2. For Masters Applicants:
   1. Completion of a minimum of 8 Units of Coursework in any field of study at CGU before applying for the award. Units transferred from an external degree program will not count.
   2. Concurrent registration in a minimum of eight units of coursework or continuous registration (400M)—i.e. full-time status—must be maintained for the fall and spring terms during the award period.
   3. Applicants who plan to or will receive their degree on or before December 2025 are not eligible for the award.
3. For Doctoral Applicants:
   1. Completion of a minimum 8 Units of Coursework in any field of study at CGU before applying for the award. Units taken while enrolled in a master’s program at CGU that count towards the doctoral degree are acceptable. Units transferred from an external degree program will not count.
   2. Concurrent registration in a minimum of eight units of coursework or doctoral study (499)—i.e. full-time status—must be maintained for the fall and spring terms during the award period.
   3. Doctoral Students who have advanced or will advance to candidacy before or by August 01, 2025 are not eligible for the award.
4. Letters of Support from Two Faculty or Other Senior Collaborators representing two distinct academic departments or disciplines or one letter from an academic department or discipline and one from a non-academic, senior collaborator stating that the student meets the award eligibility requirements and they support the applicant’s research.
5. Students agree to Complete Three of the Following Award Requirements within 18 months of receiving notification of the award:
   1. Present research at an external or internal (within CGU or the Claremont Colleges) conference or research symposium.
   2. Present their research at any event, formal or informal, held by their home academic department (i.e., lunch time talks/presentations, etc.).
   3. Participate in The Big Pitch (3 min thesis) held during the award year.
   4. Participate in a podcast to describe the project with the Associate Provost of Transdisciplinary Studies, the Associate Provost for Research or other CGU interviewer.
   5. Record a presentation (video or powerpoint based) for an internal CGU website (e.g., Transdisciplinary my.cgu.edu site).
   6. Write a post for the Transdisciplinary Studies or other my.cgu.edu blog.

When submitting your application, by signing the Certificate of Eligibility Statement, you agree to abide by the eligibility and requirement terms. Failure to complete three of the award requirements will result in the award being rescinded and any funds used must be re-paid to the university.

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An awarding committee will review all applications and select recipients using the evaluation criteria detailed below. Please use this rubric as a guide to develop your application. If unsure of any of the criteria, please work with the Center for Writing and Rhetoric

Specifically, selected research projects will demonstrate the following:

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Cross Boundary Collaboration Across Disciplines and Sectors

1. Project: Is multi- or inter-disciplinary, and/or cross-sector collaborations with community, industry, non-profit, or governmental partners.
2. Collaboration: In project design and implementation, project engages non-academic stakeholders (e.g., educators, policymakers, community organizations, industry leaders, activists), and/or project uses a co-creation model in which non-academic voices help shape research direction.

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Research Rationale: Transdisciplinary Scholarship & Social Impact

1. Significant Real-world Issue: Presents a research question based on a complex real-world issue (past present, or future) that reveals interconnected factors shaping the problem (e.g., systems thinking).
2. Social Importance of Outcomes: Explicit delineation of the issue’s societal relevance and potential impact—demonstrated with evidenced arguments that include outcomes and implications on society, past and future, and further research and application.
3. Cross-disciplinary Relevance: The central issue is presented with justification that more than one discipline finds it important.
4. Knowledge Base and Boundary Crossing Scholarship:
   1. Perspectives and theories from different disciplines are integrated in presenting the central issue or research question.
   2. The issue has been contextualized within previous scholarship.
   3. Demonstrates knowledge of the disciplines that are integrated.
   4. Provides a bibliography of at least 5 references of key research from each of the different disciplines being integrated with annotations on the prominence and relevance of the sources selected (entries in the bibliography will not count against the research synopsis word count).

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Boundary Crossing Methodologies

1. Overview: Provides an explicit account of the information gathering and analytical approaches to be used.
2. Methods Integration Justification:
   1. Multiple methodologies from different disciplines and practices are well defined.
   2. Justifies how/why integration of selected methods and/or frameworks and addresses the issue or research question in ways could not be done with just a single disciplinary method.
3. Conceptual Frameworks that Embrace Complexity: For example, network analysis, social-ecological systems, phenomenology, intersectionality, participatory action research, and other methodological frameworks.
4. Integration of non-Academic Stakeholders: Includes the perspectives of non-academic stakeholders (community members, policy makers, practitioners) and why this research and/or its outcomes matter to them. Or the project uses a co-creation model in which non-academic voices shape the research design and direction.

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Critical Scholarly Writing & Evidenced Argument

1. Clear Language and Organized Writing: Ideas and arguments lead logically from one to the next; there are no gaps in reasoning.
2. Subject Matter Expertise: Theoretical concepts and extant research explained and demonstrated with/in associated literature.
3. Argument Structure: Clear assertions supported with logical argument and research evidence and citations.
4. Hypotheses/Central Argument or Thesis: Research questions/central argument or thesis are explicitly presented to support the objectives or purpose of the study.

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Feasibility, Budget, and Potential Continuity

1. Project Feasibility: Is presented with steps to stay on target toward completion (one-page maximum, does not count in research synopsis word count).
2. Timeline: Details research/project phases with explanations of critical resources and work process for each phase—award committee recommends applicants create a structured outline (visual, narrative, flow chart, table, Gantt chart, etc.) of their timeline—see timeline example.
3. Collaboration Support: From faculty, staff, and other collaborators is integrated and indicated in the project plan timeline.
4. Budget: Itemized budget for research expenses, annotated to explain how the funds will be used to support the research process. Or a separate narrative budget rationale is provided with the itemized budget—budget presented can include CGU tuition and fees, inclusion of tuition and fees must be justified (see budget example).
5. Future Potential: Explains the potential of this project toward further scholarly work or professional level implementation—applicants are not obligated to implement this potential in order to get the award; this criterion assesses your ability to think of how your research can be expanded (maximum one-page, single or double-spaced, will not count against the synopsis total word count).

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Record of Academic Excellence

1. GPA: 4.0 > 3.5

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Please submit the following application materials with all required supporting documents using the airSlate form linked to below, by 5:00PM (pacific) on Monday, April 28, 2025.

1. A Publishable Abstract of your research project (250 word maximum).
2. A Synopsis of Your Research Plan including and organized by the following—please see specific criteria in the evaluation rubric for the following (2000 word maximum, typically 6 double-spaced pages):
   1. The Proposed Project Title and the word count of the synopsis.
   2. Boundary Crossing Collaboration Across Disciplines and Sectors: Specify the multi-disciplinary, inter-departmental, or cross-sector collaborations with community, industry, non-profit, or governmental partners.
   3. Research Rationale: Explain and/or demonstrate the relevance of the issue across disciplines and sectors, contextualized within previous scholarship, and the projected significance of the research project to the different disciplines, sectors, or collaborators.
   4. Boundary Crossing Methodologies and Perspectives: How and why the research project crosses disciplines or sectors, and the information-gathering and analytical methods used in the research project that demonstrates boundary-crossing.
   5. The following optional items may be included (appendix items will not count against the 2000 word maximum for the synposis):
      1. Bibliographic information (one page maximum).
      2. Appendix material (one page maximum).
3. Include an Academic and Project Timeline (one page maximum) listing your advancement to candidacy date or plans to advance to candidacy by August 1, 2025, dissertation progress and completion stages, along with a structured timeline outlining the research and writing phases with realistic completion expectations for each stage (we recommend applicants create a visual, narrative, flow chart, table, Gantt chart, or other structured outline format—refer to the evaluation criteria and rubric and the timeline example).
4. A Budget Justification explaining how the award funds will support research and writing (e.g., dissertation proposal, grant, journal article, white paper, or other similar product), with an itemized budget for anticipated research expenses (e.g., travel, equipment, participant incentives, etc.). University tuition and fees may be included, be sure to justify their inclusion (one page maximum—see example).
5. A Curriculum Vitae(maximum of two pages).
6. A Writing Sample that demonstrates your ability to do original research and synthesis secondary research literature. This may be a paper from a previous or concurrent course or an original article, report, or similar academic written product (maximum of 20 pages).
7. Include Faculty/Senior Collaborator Letters of Support statements from two CGU or affiliated faculty members representing two distinct/different academic disciplines, or from one CGU or affiliated faculty member and another senior collaborator (previous advisor from an MA or BA program, etc.). The goals of a letter of support (maximum of two pages) are to:
   1. Specify what the student researcher will contribute to the research.
   2. Assess the potential for the student research to complete the project.
   3. Convey enthusiasm for the work.
   4. Lend credibility to the proposal.
   5. Be unique and written from the point of view of faculty (or other senior collaborator’s) expertise and knowledge of the student researcher’s potential.

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Access the Application Form and Apply Today!

Applications are due Monday, April 28, 2025 by 5:00PM (pacific).

• All application materials listed above are required.
• Key Dates:
  • Application Period Opens: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
  • Final Application Due Date: Monday, April 28, 2025
  • Award Disbursement #1 (first half): mid-September 2025
  • Award Disbursement #2 (second half): mid-February 2026
• The Center for Writing & Rhetoric can provide one-on-one consultation support for applicants. The CWR is also hosting several events that applicants might find useful to attend. See the CWR’s Events page for more information.
• Masters and doctoral students are eligible for the award.
• Only two masters or doctoral students per collaborative project may earn the award, however, the project may involve any number of other cross-disciplinary and/or cross-sector collaborators, consultants, or research mentors.
• Each masters or doctoral student working on the collaborative project:
  • must apply for the award.
  • must meet the eligibility requirements.
  • must submit all required application items.
• Letters of support should be included in the application submitted by the student and not emailed separately.
• Please note most reviewers of your application will be outside of your field of study, so write clearly and avoid or clearly define specialized terms or concepts.
• The Transdisciplinary Studies Office will provide a copy of applicant’s academic transcript to the review committee.
• Failure to complete three of the award requirements will result in the award being rescinded and any funds used must be re-paid to the University.
• Receiving an award may affect your financial aid package for the academic year. Awardees should consult the financial aid office upon receiving an award—financial aid will receive a copy of the application budget.

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Interested in applying? Check out our frequently asked question section below. Interested in speaking with us about the award? Reach out to us directly @ transdisciplinary.studies@cgu.edu.

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1. Is the Crossing Boundaries Research Award Open to all CGU Students (masters, joint, dual, interfield)?

   Yes, the Crossing Boundaries Research Award is open to all CGU students including masters, doctoral (pro doc and PhD), joint, dual, and interfield doctoral students.

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   Which award should I apply for? One of the dissertation awards or the research award?

   The TNDY and CGU dissertation awards are intended to support dissertation research and writing for students who have advanced to candidacy or will advance to candidacy by August 01, 2025 and April 28, 2025 (respectively).

   Doctoral Students who are finishing coursework, preparing for qualifying exams, and/or working on their dissertation proposal and who will advance to candidacy after August 01, 2025 should apply for the Crossing Boundaries Research award and not a dissertation award.

   Masters and professional doctorate students are only eligible for the Crossing Boundaries Research Award.

   Full-time status or the equivalent (continuous or doctoral) must be maintained for the entire award period.

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   A letter of support writer is reluctant to release their letter to me to upload with my other application materials, can letter of support writers submit the letters by email?

   No, the letters of support must be submitted using the application form and not emailed directly.

   We are asking for a letter of support and not a recommendation letter. The letter should attest to the faculty or letter writer’s support of the applicant and their project, i.e., that they will be able to support the applicant taking on the project due to: 1) the resources they have available and will dedicate (time, money, networks, equipment, etc.) and 2) their belief in the feasibility of the project. Their relationship with the applicant certainly informs the tone and specifics of the letter, but it really is not intended to be a recommendation nor a reference.

   These letters are more along the lines of what is submitted in collaborative projects with NIH grants.

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   How do I create an abstract? What are the best practices?

   Review the recording from the Center for Writing & Rhetoric to learn about the key components of a well-crafted abstract.

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   What should the “budget justification” contain? Does it need to be written out in prose format? Can I use a bulleted list? Can I use a spreadsheet?

   The budget justification lists and justifies how applicants will use the funds to support their research and writing. Applicants should create an itemized budget for research expenses, annotated to explain how the funds will be used to support the research process—a separate narrative budget rationale can be provided but it should be accompanied by an itemized budget—see budget example.

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   Can I use the award funds to cover tuition/fees and living expenses?

   Yes, applicants may use the award funds to cover university tuition and fees, and living expenses. Applicants should discuss the use of funds to cover tuition and living expenses in their budget justification—see budget example.

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   What should the “academic and project timeline” contain? Does it need to be written out? Can I use a spreadsheet?

   The academic and project timeline describes the different stages, milestones, and/or steps and the time the applicant anticipates it will take to complete them. The timeline may be written out or detailed in a spreadsheet or some combination thereof. The award committee recommends applicants create a structured outline—visual, narrative, flow chart, table, Gantt chart, etc.—of your academic timeline—see timeline example

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   What is the “Future Potential” component in the evaluation rubric? It is listed as optional, but to be sure, do I need to complete it? If I do not include a potential future section, will my application be assessed lower than those that do include it?

   The “future potential” evaluation criteria explains the potential of the applicant’s project to produce further scholarly work or professional level implementation; this criterion assesses your ability to think of how your research can be expanded. Applicants are not obligated to implement this potential in order to get the award and their application will not be assessed lower if one is not included in the application.

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   How Do I Meet the Award Requirement to Present My/Our Research?

   Awardees can meet the award presentation requirement by:

   1. Presenting their research at any external or Claremont Colleges associated conference or research symposium.
   2. Presenting their research at any event, formal or informal, held by their home academic department (i.e., lunch time talks/presentations, etc.).
   3. Participating in The Big Pitch (3 min thesis).
   4. Paritcipating Realizing Equity Research Symposium is a great opportunity to present their research.
   5. Pariticipating in a podcast hosted by an academic or community organization where the awardee discusses their research.
   6. Participating in an event hosted by their academic department, an admissions event (e.g., Spring Preview, New Student Orientation, etc.).

   The key component in meeting this requirement is to share your research with your colleagues𓆄share your research with colleagues, formally or semi-informally, and you will meet the requirement.

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    I am doing human subject study stuff, is there anything special I need to do?

    Yes. First, talk to your faculty and/or research advisor. Second, reach out to the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB’s “focus is to facilitate faculty investigators and help train student investigators to understand and carry out the fundamental purpose of all IRBs, which is to assure the Investigator’s Respectful Behavior toward every person who participates in research as a ‘human subject’.”

    The IRB advises that asking whether a project is HSR is really asking two questions: (1) Is it research? (according to federal regulations) and (2) Does the research involve human subjects?

    Human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research:

    1. Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens; or
    2. Obtains, uses, studies, analyzes, or generates identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens.

    Research means a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Activities that meet this definition constitute research for purposes of this policy, whether or not they are conducted or supported under a program that is considered research for other purposes. For example, some demonstration and service programs may include research activities. For purposes of this part, the following activities are deemed not to be research:

    1. Scholarly and journalistic activities (e.g., oral history, journalism, biography, literary criticism, legal research, and historical scholarship), including the collection and use of information, that focus directly on the specific individuals about whom the information is collected.
    2. Public health surveillance activities, including the collection and testing of information or biospecimens, conducted, supported, requested, ordered, required, or authorized by a public health authority. Such activities are limited to those necessary to allow a public health authority to identify, monitor, assess, or investigate potential public health signals, onsets of disease outbreaks, or conditions of public health importance (including trends, signals, risk factors, patterns in diseases, or increases in injuries from using consumer products). Such activities include those associated with providing timely situational awareness and priority setting during the course of an event or crisis that threatens public health (including natural or man-made disasters).
    3. Collection and analysis of information, biospecimens, or records by or for a criminal justice agency for activities authorized by law or court order solely for criminal justice or criminal investigative purposes.
    4. Authorized operational activities (as determined by each agency) in support of intelligence, homeland security, defense, or other national security missions.

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    When are the funds disbursed to awardees?

    Award funds are disbursed by the Office of Financial Aid in conjunction with the Student Accounts Office following the add/drop date for the fall and spring terms during the award year.

    1. Award Disbursement #1: after the add/drop date for the fall 2025 term
    2. Award Disbursement #2: after the add/drop date for the spring 2026 term

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What To Learn More? Have a Question That is Not Answered Here?

We are hosting “Ask Us” information session on Thursday 12:00 to 1:00PM (pacific) from late March through late April. Come join us to learn more about the award.

The CWR is hosting several events that may be of interest to applicants during the spring term. All events offered through the Center for Writing & Rhetoric are free and open to students, alumni, staff, and faculty. See the CWR’s Events page to veiw all the events.

Please address any questions about the TNDY Dissertation Award application process to the Transdisciplinary Studies Office.

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Luciana Simion

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“Thriving in Law: Fostering Well-being Through Client Relational Identification and Cultural Competence”

Legal professionals grapple with substantial emotional labor in their daily responsibilities, often resulting in burnout, depression, and mental health challenges. Despite these challenges, the traditional legal professionalism model continues to prioritize emotional restraint over expression, discouraging professionals from addressing their emotional burdens. Observing leaders mistreat clients compounds these difficulties, eliciting negative emotions such as anger and sadness. To cope with these emotions, legal professionals may resort to surface acting, concealing genuine emotions to maintain a professional façade. However, this strategy takes a substantial emotional toll, compromising employee well-being and service quality. Alternatively, engaging in deep acting (i.e., displaying authentic concern toward mistreated clients) is associated with more positive outcomes. Conducting a cross-sectional online questionnaire survey with approximately 300 legal professionals, this study investigates surface-acting and deep-acting prevalence in the context of leadership customer unfairness (LCU). The primary aim is to identify mechanisms for mitigating LCU’s detrimental impact on legal professionals’ deep-acting capacity. Employee-customer relational identification and cultural competence are proposed as buffering mechanisms, providing tools to adeptly manage emotional labor. Once data collection is completed in May 2024, path analysis and model fit indices will evaluate the proposed models. Uncovering such moderating mechanisms has the potential to contribute to a more empathetic, customer-centric legal profession. Research findings, while potentially limited in generalizability beyond the legal field, underscore the importance of nurturing emotional authenticity for improved employee well-being and the delivery of just and equitable legal services.

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Kim Megyesi-Brem

School of Educational Studies (SES)

“How Do Teacher Messages Valuing Questions and Mistakes in Math Affect the Intellectual Risk-Taking of Middle School Students in Economically Disadvantaged Communities in Japan and the United States?”

In the United States and globally, students from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds underperform in math. My recent quantitative research found significant underperformance in math by students from low-SES backgrounds in Japan, a surprising finding in a country whose educational system reflects equitable school funding and universal curriculum distribution, structural elements that likely contribute to inequality in the United States. While different contextual issues factor differently in different countries’ educational systems, this finding led me to wonder how socioeconomic status affects student math performance at the classroom level. As such, this qualitative research proposal investigates teacher messaging and peer support to understand how SES impacts student math achievement in the classroom.

[Some sociologists have] found that teacher messages about student competence influence the math performance of students from low-SES backgrounds, and [others have] found that teachers’ positive messages about mistakes and questions create a classroom environment where students worry less about peer perceptions and take more intellectual risks. Building on their research, this qualitative project proposes to conduct classroom observations and interviews in middle schools in low-socioeconomic communities in both Japan and the United States to analyze how implicit and explicit teacher messages shift socio-cultural classroom norms and affect which students take intellectual risks during math lessons. Ultimately, this project seeks to contribute sociological rationale to existing psychological mindset research on the use of positive messages about questions and mistakes in the classroom.

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Bergsveinn Olafsson, Augusto Gonzalez-Bonorino, Daniel Martin

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS), Division of Politics & Economics (DPE), & Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“Novem: A mixed-methods approach to enhancing well-being through AI-driven coaching”

Escalating mental health gaps necessitate innovative, scalable interventions. Traditional wellness assessments, such as the PERMA+4 survey, though comprehensive, are not easily scalable, prone to respondent biases, and present a challenge for wellness coaches looking to integrate evidence-backed frameworks efficiently into their workflows. This research introduces “Novem,” a novel methodology employing Large Language Models (LLMs) anchored in empirically supported wellness frameworks to enhance the scalability of well-being coaching services. By capitalizing on the increasing public comfort with conversational AI interfaces and the Atlas Intelligence prototype developed during the Kravis 2023 competition, Novem helps streamline positive habit formation and mental health improvement. The methodology promises to bridge the unmet demand for mental health services and service capacity for wellness professionals.

Preliminary results indicate enhanced LLM performance when aligned with structured assessment frameworks, though data on Novem’s direct impact on user well-being remain to be gathered. The research underscores a growing need for digital, scalable, and cost-effective wellness assessment and coaching methods. Novem aspires to alleviate the workload of wellness coaches and offer tailored treatments to self-motivated individuals, suggesting a viable pathway to bridging the mental health gap. By using frameworks of behavioral change, AI coaching systems can more effectively support users in developing lasting habits that can support them in achieving other coaching outcomes like well-being or self-awareness. To assess the effectiveness of this methodology, we aim to conduct a series of experimental studies to evaluate wellness outcomes for participants relative to alternative wellness intervention modalities.

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Donalyn White

School of Arts & Humanities (SAH)

“Queer Reverie: An Archive of Elders’ Stories and Artistry”

Largely due to the AIDS crisis, yet compounded by compulsory heterosexuality, many modern queer youth are without queer elders. We lost robust queer art communities, activists, and chosen-family caretakers. Many young people today feel isolated from networks of queer communities. As an antipode, this research archives the lives and art of queer elders who lived in the Inland Empire, combining theory and methodology from the fields of queer studies, political science, literature, history, art, anthropology, and museum studies. This research involves determining a circle of queer community members rippling outwards from folk artist and former Claremont resident and teacher Norma Tanega—such as gay and lesbian activists and artists Margarethe Cammermeyer, Diane Divelbess, and David Authier—to closely study the letters and artwork exchanged among queer friends and lovers from the 1960s through the 1990s and collect oral histories to paint a picture of their personal lives situated in a larger social and political landscape for queer people during a transitional time in America. My research inquires into the ways in which queer education, art, and activism stem from a community of love and radiate outwards into becoming spaces of artistic expression and queer liberation both in the past and present day. My work will culminate in a series of vignettes and a gallery of the lives of queer artists, radicals, and teachers, connected through varying degrees of relation, which paint a community of elders and activism.

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Yalai Jiang

School of Arts & Humanities (SAH)

“The Transition from Harpsichords to Fortepianos: A Comprehensive Study of Keyboard Instruments in Colonial New England and Their Influence on Contemporary Performers in Cognition and Practice”

Centered in late 1600s to late 1700s Philadelphia, this study addresses a gap in understanding the comprehensive transition from harpsichords to fortepianos in Colonial British America. The research focuses on tracing the chronological evolution of keyboard instruments and examines the psychoacoustic perception impact on contemporary performers. Through three cognitive-based experiments with five piano performers, the project aims to uncover the historical, cultural, and musical implications of this evolution, and strives to reveal variations in performing parameters between historical and contemporary instruments. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to a deeper understanding of the aesthetics of historical keyboard instruments in today’s performance environment. Leveraging music and audio technology, the study compares and analyzes the perception and cognition of performing on historical instruments. Thirty audience participants will listen to three versions of a keyboard performance and complete a survey assessing six parameters of emotional and psychological response. The author investigates how this transition influenced musical practices and the construction of keyboard instruments, revealing the impact of these changes on contemporary performers, particularly in the variations on the note durations and its dynamic ranges. This emphasis on the intersection of musicology, cultural history, and psychoacoustic sound perception underscores the project’s multidisciplinary approach. This research also strives to inform future advancements in sound synthesis technology and align with current developments in auditory perception research.

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Daniel Talamantes

School of Arts & Humanities (SAH)

“Environmental Justice Project in La Puente Valley and City of Industry, California”

This project aims to enhance public awareness of air, soil, and water quality issues and promote pollution control measures while empowering residents in La Puente Valley through a soil sampling program. Working with the Environmental Justice San Gabriel Valley’s (EJSGV) organization, our results will form a comprehensive database for education and advocacy on a user-friendly website and provide the basis for networking among community members, advocates, and scientists.

The predominantly Latino/a/x/e and low-income community is disproportionately overburdened by multiple environmental and social stressors. The heavy pollution burden is particularly high due to the activities of […] a lead-acid battery recycling plant located in the neighboring City of Industry, California. To address these concerns, the project proposes to sample soil for lead at residential properties near Quemetco, Inc., correlate health outcome data, and collect pet health data. This necessitates a multivalent approach that intersects environmentalism with aspects of social justice, hard sciences, and policy to foster a future of environmental justice. Our strategy encompasses the nurturing of an informed community, utilizing education and awareness as tools to combat environmental and systemic challenges.

The project will include training community volunteers in the sampling protocol which will empower residents to take an active role in environmental justice issues while gathering data to inform policy, public health initiatives, and community-led cleanup efforts. The data will be compiled into digital mapping and a public-facing platform that will translate important information as well as provide essential material for remediation.

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Kimberly Fillion

School of Arts & Humanities (SAH)

“The Sisters’ Sacred Paradoxical Space: Mapping Truth to Freedom”

By crossing the boundaries of feminist theology, liberatory pedagogy and feminist geography, my study aims to challenge historical interpretations of the Catholic Church as a fortifier and perpetuator of gender based status quo. I argue that within the Church structure there existed a radical space, albeit paradoxical, where nuns were able to subvert the patriarchal norms of wentieth century American society. Further, I argue that nuns redefined capitalist patriarchal expectations of the woman to procreate. Instead, through their vow of chastity and sexual
abstinence, the sisters created the condition for the production of liberatory knowledge and a sense of belonging. I use oral histories with several American Catholic nuns to understand how second wave feminist thought motivated the sisters to challenge the traditional gender norms. The sisters contested these norms by developing and sustaining spaces that promoted a radical sisterhood, ultimately creating autonomy and mapping truth to freedom.

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Tiffany T. Shao

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“Aversive Racism and Use of Force: Perceived Threat and Justification Decisions”

This program of research examines the influence of aversive racism on police officers’ decisions to use force. Police officers often rely on cognitive heuristics to guide their judgments in use of force contexts (Correll et al., 2004). Previous research on aversive racism theory has established that individuals often resort to racial stereotypes as heuristic devices to guide judgments under ambiguous situations (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000). However, an officer’s decision to use force depends on the race of the suspect; Black individuals are often tainted by biases characterized by attributions of criminality or aggressiveness, characteristics that are often associated with threat (Devine, 1989; Welch, 2007). Race is known to influence use of force decisions; what is not known is if the role of perceived threat moderates this relationship. Study 1 is a 2 (suspect race: White or Black) x 3 (officer force: soft empty hands, pain compliance, chemical spray) mixed factorial design with suspect race as a between-subjects variable and officer force as a within-subjects variable. Participants read a short vignette about a case of a traffic stop and answer a series of measures assessing their attitudes towards police use of force. Findings from Study 1 suggest that there is no direct effect of suspect race on the justification of an officer’s decision to use force. However, assessments of the threat of the suspect did influence justification of an officer’s decision to use force. Study 2 will use the same study design but will incorporate 5 levels of officer force (verbal force, soft empty hands, pain compliance, chemical spray, and use of baton). Further, qualitative measures such as open-ended questions about prior law enforcement experiences, knowledge of policing practices, and their perceptions of police will be incorporated.

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Crossing Boundaries Research Honorable Mention Award Fellows

The Office of Research, Sponsored Programs & Grants and the Transdisciplinary Studies Program are pleased to announce the Crossing Boundaries Research Honorable Mention Award Fellows. The recipients and brief descriptions of their research projects are listed below. This is an impressive set of projects that illustrate the high-quality, high-impact research conducted across CGU.

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Hannah Middleton

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“An Untold Story: QTBIPOC Leaders Forging Purpose in the Face of Adversity”

The purpose of this study is to explore how being part of the queer, transexual, black, indigenous, and person of color community (QTBIPOC) might influence the purpose of leaders. Purpose is often seen as a “stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is meaningful to the self and leads to engagement in aspects of the world beyond the self” (Damon et al., 2003). In fact, findings from past studies report that leaders who are purposefully engaged are often invigorated by their pursuit of self-development (Walker & Reichard, 2020). However, little is known about how purpose develops within leaders, especially within the context of the QTBIPOC community. This study utilized a qualitative approach to examine how leader identities intersect and how workplace unfairness influences their leadership purpose by employing a multi-phase approach utilizing semi-structured interviews. A preliminary review of our current findings using a grounded theory analysis suggests that some major themes include: (1) Development of Purpose, (2) Development of Leadership Identity, and (3) Workplace Environment on Purpose. This study employs various strategies, including triangulation of data sources, member checking, and peer debriefing to enhance the validity of our findings. By centering the experiences and perspectives of QTBIPOC individuals, this research not only addresses gaps in the existing literature but also amplifies voices that have historically been marginalized in leadership discourse. Moreover, the findings of this study have the potential to inform leadership training programs, organizational policies, and diversity initiatives, fostering inclusive leadership practices that benefit individuals and organizations alike.

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Michelle Blaya Burgo

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“Global Social Media Experiment: Testing the causal impact of social media around the globe”

Nearly 5 billion people – over half of the world’s population – use the internet to access social media (Statista, 2020). The growing use of these platforms has been linked to concerns that it may be fueling polarization and intergroup conflict (C. Bail, 2021; Van Bavel et al., 2021), fostering political violence, damaging democracy (Persily & Tucker, 2020), leading to the spread of mis and disinformation (Green et al., 2022), and undercutting public health (Orben et al., 2022; Rathje et al., 2022). However, existing research on the impact of social media is either correlational or focuses primarily on Western samples, lacking a causal and comprehensive global perspective. To address this gap, this study proposes a collaboration among teams of researchers across over 50 countries (projected N = 103) to conduct a cross-national field experiment to test the causal effect of social media on polarization around the world. We aim to recruit 400 participants per country across at least 50 countries (target N = 20,000), ensuring an equal balance between nations from the global north and south. Half of the participants in each country will be randomly assigned to temporarily deactivate their Facebook accounts and respond to two surveys. The research will test specific hypotheses about how discontinuing social media use affects intergroup attitudes, well-being, and news knowledge, and explore regional differences in these effects worldwide. The results will inform significant debates about social media’s impact across diverse cultural and political contexts, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of its global effects.

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Zachary Swanson

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences (DBOS)

“Embedding Societal Value in Business Practice: An Investigation into Collective Purpose Among Executive Leaders”

In recent years, there has been growing interest from scholars and practitioners to address ways organizations can move beyond solely serving group needs to making a positive impact on society’s goals. A collective purpose, or a collective intention shared by members of a group to contribute to the world beyond the group, provides the motivation, meaning, and direction to contribute to a given cause beyond-the-organization. Given the core task for executive leaders is to provide strategic decision-making, set organizational goals, and steer the organization toward its overarching vision, the present study proposes to explore how executive leaders understand, value, and nurture a shared commitment to transcend individual and organizational goals to achieve broader social impacts. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, the research integrates perspectives from business, positive psychology, and leadership studies to develop a foundation for empirical research on collective purpose within organizations. The project’s main contribution lies in its development and validation of the Claremont Collective Purpose Scale (CCPS), a tool designed to measure an organization’s collective purpose. Through a three-phase data collection process, including interviews with purpose scholars and executive leaders, the
study aims to bridge the research-practice divide by offering evidence-based strategies that evaluators, consultants, researchers, coaches, and executive leaders can use to enhance organizational performance, employee well-being, and community impact. The expected outcome is a theory of collective purpose and a validated CCPS that provides a foundation for my dissertation and offers a practical tool for evaluating and fostering collective purpose within diverse organizational settings.

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Ming Chen

School of Arts & Humanities (SAH)

“Expressions Unfolded: A Community Canvas of Youth Emotions”

This interdisciplinary research project, undertaken by a CGU Art Master’s candidate with a rich academic background in Chinese Language and Literature, Economics, and Developmental Psychology, delves into the impact of educational and social environments on adolescent mental health. This project seeks to explore and enhance emotional communication and self-discovery among young individuals facing academic and career pressures. By collecting “emotional fragments” through artistic creation and utilizing psychological statistics alongside computer technology for analysis, the project aims to deepen our understanding of young individuals’ emotional expression, self-observation, and stress management. Employing 12″x12″ Xuan paper for art creation and psychological interaction games, the research facilitates personal emotional expression, intending to compile these expressions into a large-scale community art piece. This collaborative artwork will visually document the emotional and psychological growth of adolescents, to be displayed at CGU East Gallery. Additionally, it aims to uncover patterns beneficial for individual growth and positive community development. Scheduled to commence in February 2024, with phases extending into May 2025, three exhibitions will be held in May 2024, October, and May 2025. This project bridges art and psychology, which seeks to offer new strategies for fostering adolescent emotional well-being and communal support.

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Javier Aguilar

Center for Information Systems & Technology

“Exploring the Relationship of Land Use in the Quality of Life of Modern-Day Los
Angeles”

This research examines the relationship between zoning land use and socioeconomic variables (from the United States Census Bureau) to delve Richard Rothstein premise in The Color of Law of the insidious nature of discrimination in land use policy. It explores this premise for modern-day City of Los Angeles, by employing advanced geospatial and data science techniques to data engineer, visualize, analyze, and model over 800,000 parcel records for Los Angeles, along with the latest American Community Survey data at block group level, and other related data.

This research will utilize a transdisciplinary approach with data science and social science methods to investigate Rothstein’s premise by addressing several questions. Does land use play an important role in equity, diversity, environmental justice, and other societal components in the City of Los Angeles communities’ quality of life? Are there disparities in communities in the City of Los Angeles? If yes, are these communities distributed randomly or clustered? Do these communities have certain demographic and land use characteristics? For the analyses, I will use the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM). CRISP-DM six phases are: project understanding, data understanding, data preparation, modeling, evaluation, and deployment.

Essentially, this research employs data and science to tell the stories of millions of Angelenos which may be repeatable to other parts of the United States to address the implications of land use policies on communities.

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Rebecca Donaldson

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Developmental Stuttering & Flow Experiences Among Adults: An Exploratory
Analysis”

Roughly 1% of the population experiences developmental stuttering throughout their lives. Broadly speaking, developmental stuttering is a disruption of fluent speech, characterized by blocks, repetitions, and prolongations that begin in childhood. Its onset is predominately in early childhood with most people beginning to stutter between 18 months and 9 years of age (Türkili et al., 2022). It is a global phenomenon that is not specific to gender, culture, language, or race (Türkili et al., 2022). However, it is more commonly found in boys than in girls, with a male-to-female ratio of up to 4.6 (Van Borsel et al., 2006). Genetics and temperament have also been found to play a role. To date, an abundance of research on stuttering has helped us to understand that individuals vary in their disfluencies with different people and in different contexts. (Tichenor & Yaruss, 2021). While this is understood, no research to date has thoroughly explored when people are most fluent and why (Tichenor & Yaruss, 2021). Given that flow is a state in which social self-consciousness is lost, exploring this mental state among individuals who stutter may elude important findings for supporting their fluency and well-being.

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Ximena Giesemann

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Momentary Cancer Caregiver Well-Being: A Call for Unobtrusive Tools and
Dynamic Methodologies”

The lives of informal cancer caregivers (ICCs)–individuals who provide unpaid care for a cancer patient–are multifaceted. The role of cancer caregiver introduces unique and complex demands for the ICC that emanate from multiple levels of their bioecological system (e.g., psychological, physiological, social). While there have been attempts to examine ICC well-being, most of the extant research relies on methodologies that are either too obtrusive or not well suited for capturing the complexities of the multiple systems in which they are embedded. Thus, I will work with a group of health informatics scientists to build a technology-based tool to assess the complexities of ICC’s lives in an unobtrusive way in order to gain a robust understanding of ICC health and well-being as it unfolds in their ecological contexts. Bringing knowledge from the psychological sciences, I will work on this transdisciplinary project to design an Ecological Momentary Assessment study delivered via a tailored smartphone app paired with health monitors to the ICCs. The study features the following aims: 1) Effectively tailor a health informatics tool to assess the complexities of ICC’s daily experiences in an unobtrusive manner; 2) Identify bioecological elements most important for ICC’s health and well-being; and 3) Determine patterns of dynamical changes in bioecological elements across time and their relation to ICC and patient health and well-being. Findings from this study can inform health and well-being interventions for ICCs that are unobtrusive, accessible, and personalized.

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Charo Darwin Glomah

School of Educational Studies

“Leading an Urban Middle School with a Critical Lens”

K12 Educational leadership in the modern industrial society demands a transdisciplinary approach whereby the leader must possess qualities and skills that span several domains and draw from sociological philosophies and critical pedagogies. Historically, leadership frames borrow from philosophical theories but lack a critical pedagogical perspective for the demands required of today’s school leaders. While most researchers agree that effective leaders use more than one leadership lens in a given frame, most theories, frames, and leadership styles are refined versions of one another. This project explores the approach taken by a middle school principal and will
describe how leadership actions inform a critical approach. The author intends to advance the work and provide strategies to lead with a lens of critical pedagogy through observations, interviews, and critical analysis of leadership from the perspective of a middle school principal in Long Beach, California.

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Dong Hoang

School of Community & Global Health

“A case study of the resilience of a health service over the impacts of covid-19
pandemic”

Different from health system resilience, the resilience of healthcare service is defined as the proactive capacity that organisations, units, teams and individuals enact to adapt to changes and potential challenges in everyday practices in order to get high quality care (Aase et al., 2020). The countries, which developing resilient health services and systems, can effectively prevent, prepare for, detect, adapt to, respond to and recover from public health threats while ensuring the maintenance of quality essential and routine health services in all contexts, including in fragile, conflict and violence settings (WHO, n.d.). However, there is still a gap to understand how resilient health care works within existing health care systems, how to enhance it and how it can be sustained (Iflaifel et al., 2020). Therefore, the dissertation research explores how a health service is resilient over the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, a big crisis affecting different health system levels. By applying the resilient theories from diverse scientific disciplines such as engineering, psychology, ecology, and sociology to build its theoretical framework and using Donabedian’s model of healthcare quality to assess the quality of the healthcare service, this dissertation will discover the healthcare quality outcomes of adjusting functions and resources of a healthcare service against the big crisis as well as factors affecting on the adjustment and provide lessons to develop and sustain resilient healthcare services.

Aase, K., Guise, V., Billett, S., Sollid, S. J. M., Njå, O., Røise, O., Manser, T., Anderson, J. E., & Wiig, S. (2020). Resilience in Healthcare (Rih): A longitudinal research programme protocol. BMJ Open, 10(10), e038779. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038779

Iflaifel, M., Lim, R. H., Ryan, K., & Crowley, C. (2020). Resilient Health Care: A systematic review of conceptualisations, study methods and factors that develop resilience. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 324. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05208-3

World Health Organization or WHO (n.d.) Health Systems Resilience. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://www.who.int/teams/primary-health-care/our-work/health-systems-resilience

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Giang Huynh

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Evaluation within Institutional Research in the Effort of Driving Institutional
Effectiveness: A Cross-Disciplinary Exploratory Study”

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between evaluation and institutional effectiveness and how evaluation would contribute and impacts institutional effectiveness in higher education. Previous research on better practice and institutional effectiveness often emphasized on the improvement of accountability and accreditation (Morest, 2009; Gagliardi & Wellman, 2014). This constrained institutional research to a more passive role of mandated reporting and less focused on taking an advocating of enhancing institutional effectiveness. Limited literature has been done to explore how implementing evaluation in institutional research offices could play a role in facilitating institutional effectiveness. Using mixed methodology of interviewing and document reviewing, this study seeks to examine how the chief data officers perceive the role of evaluation within their office institutional research and whether evaluation was incorporated to facilitate institutional effectiveness. Twelve semi-structure interviews will be conducted among those who are at the managerial positions of their institutional research offices. Institutional reports and documents published on the office websites will also be reviewed to explore how and whether evaluation was incorporated in their effort to drive effectiveness. This cross-disciplinary exploratory research will provide insights to how evaluation is perceived within institutional research offices and how it could support institutional effectiveness. This qualitative study hopes to contribute and address the gap in the literature on evaluation within institutional research in an attempt to better the practice and increase institutional effectiveness.

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Robin Lehleitner

School of Arts & Humanities

“Paul Tillich’s World War I Sermons: Translation and Critical History”

On 1 October 1914, two months after the start of World War I, the twenty-eight-year-old philosophical theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965) enlisted in the German Imperial Army and was immediately deployed to the Western Front (Bieuxy, near Soisson) as a field chaplain. Over the next four years, the two divisions with which he would be sequentially posted participated in some of the most violent conflicts of the war. During his post-WWI lifetime, Tillich never referred to the 106 sermons he wrote and preached during these years, but neither did he destroy them. Since his death these handwritten German-language sermons have been housed in the Harvard Divinity School Library archive,¹ along with the sixty-seven sermons Tillich wrote and preached in the five years before the war. In 1993, the German philosophical theologian Erdmann Sturm transcribed all of these sermons from Tillich’s difficult to decipher turn-of-the-century Kurrentschrift and published them as Parts I and II of Frühe Predigten (1909-1918), the seventh volume of Tillich’s Ergänzungs- und Nachlassbände.² To date, they have not been translated into English. The primary purpose of this dissertational project is to convene a committee of academics for the purpose of facilitating their translation en toto.

^1. Paul Tillich, Weltkriegspredigten. Paul Tillich Papers, 1894-1974. bMS 649/30 (1)-bMS 649/31 (73). Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University.

^2. Paul Tillich, Frühe Predigten (1909-1918), Ergänzungs- und Nachlassbände zu den gesammelten Werken von Paul Tillich VII, Hrsg. Erdmann Sturm, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1994. “Fragments, sketches and drafts have not been included,” Sturm explains in his textual-critical introduction, “or, exceptionally, if their content is meaningful and original,” „Zur editorischen Gestaltung,“ Frühe Predigten, p. VIII. Sturm chose not to transcribe the approximately forty-five wartime sermons he judged Tillich to have left unfinished, although he lists them at the end of the book (pgs. 666-670) according to the biblical text Tillich appends to each and includes a brief paraphrase of each central theme. While the standards of contemporary scholarship will not readily embrace a dependence on Sturm’s personal judgment concerning the lack of “meaningful[ness]” or “original[ity]” of the sermons he chooses not to transcribe, one is also aware of the already gargantuan task he shouldered in transcribing the 106 WWI sermons that do appear in Frühe Predigten into legible modern German.

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Moina Maaz

School of Arts & Humanities

“Unveiling the American Muslim Women’s Social Space”

Islam is one of the most misunderstood religions because of the violence and hostility attributed to it by the ideologies and practices of radical Muslim groups and by the concept of Orientalism that rejects Islam and perceives it as the unintelligible “other” that needs to be “civilized.” The West has been generalizing these practices of radical Muslims and attributing them to the core of Islam. Moreover, Muslim women have been a part of this dilemma as they are viewed as oppressed and submissive to the men within their religion and religious practices. My research explores the personalized social space that young Muslim women constructed in the United States after 9/11. This space is based on religious tradition, education, fashion, sport, careers, and interactions with social media. Through this space, the young Muslim women present a new facade of Islam compatible with religious duties and American values. The personalized social space that young Muslim women constructed and still construct in the United States is safe for the American public to enter and explore Islam and Muslim women. It is safe because it appeals to Western ideals of athleticism, professionalism, education, modern fashion, and, most importantly, good citizenship. This research will help bring forward a new understanding of Islam and the rights and duties of Muslim women, Islam which can be compatible with the values of freedom, equity, and autonym, especially for women.

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Kimberly (Kim) Megyesi-Brem

School of Educational Studies

“Middle School Math Practices in the US and Japan that Increase Bridging Social
Capital of Low-SES Students Through Economic Connectedness”

Unequal access to curriculum has resulted in inequalities for low-SES and underrepresented students (Carroll & Muller, 2018; Conwell, 2021; Hallinan, 2006; Oakes, 2005). Internationally, the US has the second largest gap in math achievement between the 10th and 90th percentiles, and stagnating 8th grade scores between 2015 to 2019 were related to the gap widening (TIMSS, 2021). A key to understanding this issue may be found in bridging social capital, which describes ways in which the sharing of resources across social networks benefits individuals (Putnam, 2000; 2007). According to Chetty et al. (2022a; 2022b), economic connectedness is the type of social capital with the greatest potential for social mobility. They conclude that schools with optimal economic connectedness are those where low-SES students have more above-average SES classmates (high exposure) and there is greater connectedness across SES differences (low friending bias).

In this international comparative study, the United States and Japan provide an informative comparison because of their relative differences in economic heterogeneity (the US) and homogeneity (Japan) and differences in ability grouping practices—within-school in the US and between-school in Japan. Data from 8th grade students in the US and Japan from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) will be used to analyze ways in
which economic connectedness mediates the impact of SES on math course-taking and math achievement in middle school through school and classroom practices. Findings may highlight new efforts that hold promise to increase math achievement for students from low-SES backgrounds.

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Asia Moore

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“‘Can You Hear Us Now?’: A Case Study Exploration of Drumming Circles as a Context for Social-Emotional Empowerment Amongst Urban Youth of Color”

The field of positive youth development (PYD) has shifted the emphasis from youth deficits and pathologies towards identifying the strengths that help young people survive and thrive amidst even the most difficult of circumstances. Substantial work has shown that programs and interventions targeting social-emotional indicators like self-esteem and self-efficacy are particularly effective at empowering today’s youth. Furthermore, numerous evaluations of youth programming have shown these benefits are strengthened and sustained over time when youth are given more leadership opportunities within programs to practice implementing these social-emotional skills.

Despite this robust evidence, opportunities for youth voice to be heard and centered remain limited in both research and programming—a reality even more pervasive for youth of color living in urban contexts. As a result, the current project leverages a research-practice partnership that centers youth voice at each step of its design, application, and dissemination. By using an evidence-based social-emotional drumming program as an empowering context for development, this case study will utilize experience sampling methods (ESM) to examine the critical experiences that emerge for urban youth of color when given programmatic leadership opportunities. Ultimately, this project seeks to provide these often-unheard youth with the platform to be heard, to make a difference in their communities, and to be positioned as experts of their own contexts and circumstances.

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Angel Reyes

School of Community & Global Health

“Modelling The Future of Congressional Districts with Equitable Policy
Recommendations”

A cost reduction strategy for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be the by-product of this geospatial exploration of community assets and income inequality. The existing scholarly research needs to analyze the relationship between community assets and income inequality with geospatial considerations. This project will bridge the research gap advancing social mobility literature by understanding the structural factors that produce income inequality. Structural factors such as community assets reduce income inequality by facilitating upward social mobility translating to healthier individuals that require less medical care from the CMS. Bridging this research gap will create a new pathway to promote individual health through understanding income inequality’s structural factors, such as community assets.

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Jaymes Paolo Rombaoa

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“What is Well-Being for Emerging Adults? Using Big Data to Answer a Big
Question”

Emerging adults are in a transition phase from adolescence to adulthood and are prone to mental health illnesses at higher rates than other adult age groups. After decades of research on well-being in the psychological sciences, there is no consensus on what elements comprise well-being for emerging adults. In response to the psychological needs of emerging adults and the limitations of current well-being scholarship, the current research applies cross-disciplinary theories and methods from the fields of psychology, network, and data science, to provide a fresh perspective on an age-old question: what makes up well-being? This project aims to answer this question for the vulnerable stage of emerging adulthood. Specifically, I aim to: (1) identify psychological and physiological elements that have high predictive power for college-attending and non-college-attending emerging adults’ well-being, and (2) investigate personalized networks of psychological and physiological elements essential for each individual. Analyses will be based on a month-long, intensive longitudinal study of a sample of college-attending and non-college-attending emerging adults. Top-down (theoretically-driven assessments) and bottom-up approaches (participant-informed assessments) will be used to identify elements with the highest predictive power of well-being for this population. Results will enrich well-being scholarship by providing knowledge of whether theoretically-driven well-being elements match participant-driven well-being elements (as reported during their real-world, real-time contexts). Additionally, results can inform researchers and practitioners on how to formulate personalized well-being interventions and tailor counseling programs to emerging adults’ individual needs and lifestyles.

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Sophie Sileo

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Psychological Safety in High School Students: What it is, How it’s Created, and Why it Matters”

As technology, global warming, and inequality make our world ever more complex, it will be up to the next generation of changemakers to create innovative solutions. But to address these wicked problems, students must first practice making mistakes and taking risks in a safe environment. This project proposes that fostering psychological safety in students will benefit the student personally and serve as the foundation that will empower them to solve complex issues in the future. In this mixed-methods study, I will examine the psychological safety of 9th-12th graders who are in a project-based program called REDI Lab. Enrolled students are members of one of three diverse groups: private school students, students in the general Denver area, and Art Street students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. There is limited research on the psychological safety of students, and none on how to foster it across social strata, which is what this study aims to achieve. Due to the complex nature of this issue, methods and theory from several fields are used, including evaluation; positive, social, and organizational psychology; education; data science; and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Overall, the aim of this study is to begin building a theoretical framework about how we can bolster students of all backgrounds via psychological safety. If our world has any hope of being more equitable, sustainable, and peaceful, then it is our responsibility as researchers and humans to give students the tools they will need to dream big and persist in the face of resistance.

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Luciana Simion and Ashley Watterson

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Exploring the Complexities of Multiracial Leaders Development: A
Transdisciplinary Study on the Influence of Upbringing Experiences”

As globalization seems to accelerate, the development of cross-culturally competent leaders is growing into a constant concern for organizations. However, not all can afford to implement standardized performance systems to support global leadership talent through dedicated development interventions. Therefore, if we are to develop the next generation of global leaders, other methods and pathways should be explored to close the gap and democratize cross-cultural leadership development experiences in a way that is accessible to everyone. This study explores multiracial individuals’ leadership capabilities and how their upbringing experiences and cultural identities impact their ability to lead effectively in cross-cultural settings. Leveraging a qualitative research design, including interviews with multiracial leaders and their followers, and inductive thematic analysis, this study’s emergent findings suggest that multiracial leaders are skilled in managing followers’ perceptions, perspective-taking, and leveraging code-switching abilities as a strength for building connection and trust. On the other hand, they may require additional emotional and mental labor to make others comfortable, receive equal treatment, and build trust and understanding. Such findings have significant implications for organizations seeking to cultivate and nurture multiracial leaders in their workforce and can contribute to the development of global leaders through identity development, experiential learning, self-reflection, perspective-taking, and creating psychological safe environments for multiracial to manifesting their true/authentic self in the workplace. These findings can advance understanding across-fields, particularly around leadership development, social identity theory, organizational justice, multiculturalism and diversity, and strategic management.

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Sneha Suresh

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Developing Best-Practices Guidelines for Reducing Eyewitness Misidentifications”

After a crime, eyewitnesses are frequently presented with a photographic lineup to assess if they can identify the perpetrator. Prior to viewing the photographic lineup, eyewitnesses are administered instructions. In many jurisdictions, these instructions include an Appearance Change Instruction (ACI), stating that if the perpetrator is in the lineup, their appearance may have changed since the crime. Prior studies have reported, though, that the ACI may increase misidentifications of the wrong person without increasing correct identifications of the actual perpetrator. This is problematic, with mistaken identifications contributing to approximately 72% of wrongful convictions in the US. However, previous research reported no ACI benefit, possibly because the actual perpetrator’s appearance changes were modest. In the proposed research program, we present a stronger test of the effectiveness of the ACI by using perpetrator faces with distinctive features for more salient appearance changes. We then test the effectiveness of two versions of the ACI: Brief and Extensive. Experiment 1 assesses the ACI with distinctive facial features that could change over time (e.g., a bruise); Experiment 2 assesses the ACI with distinctive features unlikely to change over time (e.g., a tattoo). In both experiments, the extensive ACI condition is predicted to produce more accurate identifications than the no-ACI condition. Further, the Extensive ACI is predicted to produce more accurate identifications than the no-ACI and the brief ACI. The results of this study will inform our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in facial recognition and also legal policies, criminal justice reform, and Police Science.

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Emily Zavala

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Estimating Risk in 9-1-1 Calls: Exploring the Role of Mental Health and
Organizational Factors on Call Prioritization”

When emergency call-takers receive public-initiated requests for assistance through 9-1-1 calls, they are required to accurately estimate risk so they can properly classify and prioritize calls for service and dispatch the appropriate response. Call prioritization relies on the call-taker’s accurate appraisal of risk which could be affected by a variety of variables, including organizational factors (i.e., job experience) and mental health factors (i.e., the level of secondary traumatic stress (STS) resulting from exposure to traumatic calls). Currently, organizations have considered addressing inaccurate call prioritization by implementing standardized protocols. However, by using multiple perspectives in clinical psychology, human capital, decision-making, and risk assessment, the impact of job experience and STS on risk assessment can be viewed on a more holistic level rather than purely through policy and procedures. This Crossing Boundaries research project aims to analyze the relationship between job experience and risk estimation in 9-1-1 calls and examine whether STS moderates this relationship. Data collection and analysis will use policy-capturing methodology, which is one of several social judgement techniques that utilizes regression analysis. Participants will be exposed to 15 audio vignettes that assess their risk estimation of 9-1-1 calls. In addition, participants will complete the Secondary Traumatic Stress Survey, a 17-item self-administered questionnaire used in clinical psychology specifically to measure STS symptoms in social workers but will be adapted for 9-1-1 professionals. The impact of this research could shed light on organizational strategies or well-being initiatives that call-takers can use to correctly appraise 9-1-1 calls and accurately prioritize police response.

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Michelle Arch

School of Arts and Humanities

“‘There Was Somebody Else in Reserve’: The Neurobiology of Literary Doubles”

Due to the era’s marked prevalence of literary delusion and binary consciousness, situating clinical schizophrenia and its manifold symptoms in the context of nineteenth-century fiction creates an unforced paradigm for modern psychiatric studies and neuroscientific deductions in critical analysis. While my thesis concurs that literary characterizations of dissociative behavior and “madness” can be traced to neurobiological or neuropsychiatric origins, I submit that some of the etiologic associations of the literary double being advanced are unsupported or insufficiently nuanced. The purpose of this research is to analyze the hypotheses proposed by existent studies, with a particular emphasis on the assessments of self-alienation, mirrored-self misidentification, and other autoscopic phenomena in the Victorian novel, and offer a more scrupulous and accordingly more meaningful alternative perspective to the neurobiological interpretations.

My research applies cognitive neuroscience and brain anatomy, primarily the neural correlates of phenomenal and introspective self-consciousness, to fiction that portrays compromised self-face recognition and reduplicative hallucinations interpreted as symptomatic of emergent or advanced schizophrenia and is commonly and/or aptly implicated in neuroscientific criticism. A fundamental component of my inquiry involves a comparison of nineteenth-century schizophrenic incarnations to actual patients with right frontal cortex deficits or impairments, as well as a review of analyses conducted on the same literary representations. This assimilation of neuroscientific discernments with historical psychological depictions and literary criticism purports a formative alliance between psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and the humanist narrative and therefore enables a fully authenticated psychopathological narrative self.

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Byengseon Bae

Division of Politics and Economics

“From Slavery to Present Racial Disparities in Health: Identifying Moderators and Mediators of Structural Racism for Health Policy and Interventions”

Our research project aims to reduce the detrimental effects of structural racism on the health of Black people in the United States. To achieve this goal, we conduct transdisciplinary research. As a cross-institution, international, cross-disciplinary team, we cross not only the boundaries of politics, history, and public health, but also the domains of behaviorism and structuralism. Existing research on health disparities has disproportionately focused on individual-level factors and there are a few studies examining the role of structural racism on health disparities. The major reason for this is because it is difficult to measure structural racism. We will contribute to the literature by measuring structural racism using share of the county slave population in 1860. Using seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR), structural equation modeling (SEM), and instrument variable (IV) estimation, we aim (1) to identify whether share of the county slave population in 1860 is associated with present-day racial disparities in health and (2) to find moderators and mediators of structural racism on health disparities in order to inform policymakers what actions can be implemented to attenuate and prevent the detrimental effects of structural racism on present-day racial disparities in health. This research has an enormous significance because if governmental and non-governmental institutions know the underlying mechanism how structural racism affects present-day racial health disparities, resources can be more strategically and effectively allocated to improve the health of Black people. By so doing, we will solve a long-lasting, entrenched social problem: excessive mortality of Black people in the U.S.

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Ann Marie Castleman

Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

“Crossing the Global Divide: Exploring the Purpose, Use, and Contributions of Participatory Evaluation in the Global North and Global South”

Participatory evaluation (PE) includes stakeholders in the process of co-creating and implementing an evaluation. It is used globally in different disciplines, geographies, and contexts. Case examples of PE in practice show extensive variation in key aspects of the evaluation approach, including who is involved in the evaluation, the depth of participation from stakeholders, and how much control evaluators have over the evaluation process. Furthermore, previous research suggests that PE is primarily used as an evaluation capacity building tool to promote organizational learning and decision-making in the Global North while it is used in the Global South to promote empowerment and social transformation . This research aims to understand differences that may exist in the practice and study of PE internationally. This will include a rapid review of the PE literature from 2012-2021 (including journals published in the Global North and the Global South) and interviews with individuals immersed in PE practice globally. This research may help identify tangible ways for decolonizing evaluation, learning from evaluation in the Global South, and commissioning evaluation in contexts where Western ways of thinking may not be relevant.

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Shine Kim

School of Educational Studies

“Awareness of Power Imbalance: Reframing Academic Victimization in PhD Programs”

Academic victimization–harassment that occurs within academia–is widespread among doctoral students. According to a recent global survey of PhD students published in Nature, 21% of respondents reported experiencing bullying, harassment, and discrimination by supervisors during their PhD programs (Woolston, 2019). Academic victimization can negatively affect students’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being, which can harm their personal lives, academic progress, and career development (Flaherty, 2019; Levecque et al., 2017). Despite a growing body of research examining academic victimization from the student (victim) perspectives (e.g., Martin et al., 2015; Byars-Winston & Dahlberg, 2019), there is little systematic analysis of academic victimization from the faculty (perpetrator) perspectives and power imbalance within graduate education programs (Aguinis et al., 1996).

This Crossing Boundaries research project aims to fill in this critical research gap by drawing on cross-disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, sociology, management, education, and criminal justice. Specifically, this project proposes and empirically examines a novel, cross-disciplinary theoretical framework to understand academic victimization and power imbalance through the student and faculty perspective connected to an overlapping continuum of faculty unsupportive, uncivil, and abusive behaviors. This project employs a qualitative study design for semi-structured interviews with current or former doctoral students at a university in Southern California. Interview data will be coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis approach to identify overlapping experiences and themes. Findings of this project will inform the development of academic victimization and power measurement, and policy and programs aimed at preventing and reducing abuse of doctoral students in higher education.

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Rainita Narender

Division of Politics and Economics

“Evaluating the Benefits of Post-Incarceration Services on Recidivism”

Reducing California’s staggering recidivism rates has persisted as the most prioritized yet challenging goal faced by the California Criminal Justice System (CCJS). As two-thirds of individuals released from prison re-offend within two years of release, finding feasible solutions to deter re-offense is of great importance. A recent program geared to mitigate rising recidivism rates in California is the Specialized Treatment for Optimal Programming, STOP, program offered by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This program offers housing, counseling and vocational resources to individuals considered the highest risk to re-offend based on their offense history, socioeconomic status, psychological and physiological safety. This project applies a transdisciplinary approach to investigate the populations that take-up STOP programming and if access helps reduce the likelihood of future re-offense.

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Pamela Ogata

School of Community and Global Health

“Crossing Boundaries to Decode Health Inequities among Latinx and COVID”

Background: As of December 16, 2021, Latinx continue to have the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases and death rate in Los Angeles County indicating an apparent health inequity. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to understand the causal pathway or predictors of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality (health outcomes) among Latinx.

Specific Aims:

1. Identify demographic, biologic (pre-existing conditions, health status), and treatment types that are associated with severe COVID-19 morbidity (illness) or mortality (death) among Latinx patients at a community hospital.
2. Determine if the predictors for severe COVID-19 morbidity or mortality among Latinx patients differ by level of acculturation (intergenerational access).
3. Determine if type of health insurance as a measure of social/human capital is a component of the causal pathway in COVID-19 morbidity or mortality.

Methods: Collaborate in cross-sector scholarship with a medical team at a community hospital and university faculty from economic and epidemiology departments to analyze health insurance, acculturation, demographic characteristics, pre-existing conditions, and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among Latinx who tested positive for COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021. Measures of association will be calculated using cox hazard regression and prediction models will be created using step-wise regression analysis.

Results: This cross-disciplinary exploratory research will uncover some factors associated with COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, and it will also help identify additional research questions which can translate into deeper dissertation-level inquiry on structural barriers, political economy, human capital, and social epidemiology theoretical frameworks.