Showcase

Looking back on my past 4 years of college, my ePortfolio explores projects and skills I have developed. I showcase my capstone project along with my hobbies from outside an academic setting. I hope to one day be an archaeologist and explore the worl ... d. Read more

Foster children in Indiana face serious educational obstacles, which contribute to their ongoing instability. Frequent placement changes disrupt their education, raising dropout rates and lowering academic achievement. This research project aims t ... o examine the educational experiences of foster children in Indiana and the relationship between these experiences and increased rates of homelessness aftercare. It will examine state-level data and previous literature to determine the main factors influencing these results. Only 54.2% of foster adolescents graduated on time in 2021, compared to 86.7% of all students, according to data from the Indiana Department of Education. Foster children also have a higher chance of being disciplined, expelled, or held back a grade, all of which might impede their academic advancement. The results imply that educational disruptions have a major effect on foster youths' stability and chances for success in the future. The analysis suggests extending foster care services past the age of 18, establishing focused educational assistance programs, and offering stable housing choices both during and after care in order to address these problems. Read more

This study examines sociological factors affecting access to mental health services for minority communities in Hamilton and Marion County, Indiana. Key findings reveal that stigma, cultural barriers, economic inequality, provider shortages, and stru ... ctural challenges hinder equitable care. Recommendations include expanding Medicaid, increasing culturally competent training, reducing stigma, enhancing telehealth, and improving community resource navigation to promote better access and quality of mental health care. Read more

This ePortfolio shows "About me", my resume, and three showcases to show competencies.

Degradation of bone and increased incidence of blood disorders in the aging population often occur together, leading to various health outcomes and imposing a significant economic burden. The decline in osteogenic and hematopoietic function within th ... e bone marrow (BM) of aging populations is associated with reduced bone mineral density, impaired healing, heightened risks of hematological malignancies, and worsening conditions such as anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia. The BM niche is managed by an intricate regulatory network which include mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cytokine/growth factors, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), mature immune cells, and the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM is essential for the regulation of hematopoiesis (the process by which blood cells are formed). With aging, the equilibrium of the regulatory network shifts. The transition in aged MSCs from bone-forming (osteogenic) to fat-forming (adipogenic) development is associated with the tendency of HSPCs– responsible for generating blood and immune cells – to shift towards the myeloid lineage. However, the biological mechanism through which the aging BM niche, particularly the interactions between HSPCs, MSCs, and the ECM, contributes to hematopoietic dysfunction with age remains unclear. Building on advancements in ECM biology, this study sought to clarify how age-related changes in the ECM and to MSC regulatory cues affect HSPC function. Using specialized biofabricated plates, which had wells coated with microphysiological analogues of young (≤ 25 years old) or aged (≥ 60 years old) BM ECMs, created by human MSCs, I explored how the ECM influences HSPC development. Utilizing HSPCs isolated from cord blood units, I evaluated HSPC function using colony-forming unit assays and characterized them immunophenotypically through flow cytometry at input and following 7 days of culture on either tissue culture-treated (TCP), young ECM (yECM), or aged ECM (aECM) wells. I demonstrated that all conditions resulted in increased nucleated cell number compared to input after expansion. By phenotype, we saw: 1) significant increases of HSCs and Multipotent Progenitors (MPPs) compared to input only when cultured on aECM, 2) significant increases in Multi-lymphoid Progenitors (MLPs) in all culture conditions when compared to input, 3) significant increases in Common Myeloid Progenitors (CMPs) when cultured on either ECM condition, and 4) no changes to Granulocyte-Monocyte Progenitor (GMP) numbers in any condition. There were no functional differences demonstrated by colony formation other than those associated with an increased proportion of those cells in culture. This suggests that perhaps different culture conditions favor the expansion of different cell populations within less ‘mature’ cord blood HSPCs. In the future, we wish to examine the effect of ECM on 1) a more ‘mature’ HSPC population (isolated from BM), and 2) a co-culture system of HSPCs and MSCs on our ECM plates to examine the crosstalk between these two populations. Read more