This study seeks to explore the perspectives of Latine students at the University of Washington (UW) regarding racial representation within the institution. Do Latine students see their experiences and identities represented and reflected in university life? How do Latine students experience and perceive Latine representation (or lack thereof) in terms of the composition of faculty, student body, and community spaces at UW? This research project aims to uncover the realities, challenges, and promise of support and community on campus. Through interviews with Latine students, faculty, and staff, this inquiry will describe how students find support at UW and navigate their academic environment. To attain a comprehensive understanding, the research utilizes a combination of primary and secondary sources, incorporating interviews with Latine students, staff, and faculty at the UW to capture personalized and nuanced perspectives. By examining the lived experiences and perspectives of individuals directly affected, the study aims to thoroughly examine the complex dynamics at play. Exploring the lived experiences of Latine students, the study will contribute to the discourse on racial representation in academia and its impact on student well-being and academic success. The findings will inform discussions on how institutions can foster an inclusive environment that recognizes and supports the diverse backgrounds of all students. This research project has emerged from ongoing conversation and collaboration with the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs members. This research project will inform the community report that the Commission is preparing.

Modern astronomical survey telescopes, like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Extremely Large Telescope, are projected to produce terabytes of data each observing night, raising the need for efficient machine learning algorithms to flag astronomical data for further study. One such algorithm is the Random Forest (RF) algorithm, which has previously been demonstrated to process some 2.36 million different galaxy spectra data (in 12 hours over 128 CPUs) for any potentially unique or even undiscovered phenomena. However, this previous demonstration used spectra taken from the combined light of a given galaxy. RF algorithms are ensembles of structures called “decision trees,” which categorize data points with value-comparison questions. This method can be extended to create a metric to calculate how unusual a data point is compared to other points in the dataset. Our project will extend this RF algorithm for the Mapping of Nearby GAlaxies survey (MaNGA), which accounts for the fact that spectra vary with regions of a galaxy. We explore the behavior of the RF algorithms when accounting for these spatially-varying features. Our methods include the generation of synthetic data to train random forest algorithms, RF model hyperparameter searches, and comparison of models. Furthermore, our project compares the similarity of our results to the results from Baron and Poznanski (2016), which previously applied the RF algorithms to the 2.36 million spectra data. We present the conclusions from the RF algorithms and whether prevalent emission lines are flagged by the algorithms, such as hydrogen-alpha and O-III lines. Our project also discusses the features characteristic of outlier galactic region spectra data. Successful implementation of the RF algorithms to process data pipelines from upcoming large surveys has the potential to accelerate the rate of astronomical discoveries to unprecedented levels.

Discipline and disciplining have been a set of processes wielded throughout history to order, control, and extract. These processes have served as efficient colonial tools and have been so intimately indicative of the way institutions wield and disseminate power that in 1976, French philosopher Michael Foucault theorized as a new form of power: disciplinary power. In my research, I explore the concept of discipline as it exists in the collegiate system, through the perspectives of Foucault's 'Discipline and Punish' and la Paperson’s 'A Third University is Possible,' while drawing inspiration from Niccolò Machiavelli's 'The Prince' to shape writing style. Rooted in the field of critical university studies and motivated by personal reflections, this project takes the form of a "how-to" guide for cultivating a docile body and aims to explore the limits and potentials of discipline within the context of STEM education at the University of Washington. As part of my methodological approach, I incorporate and analyze various university spaces’ contributions to the overall built environment and campus power structure(s). I ask what it takes for place to become space, or more simply put, how the various disciplinary bodies that inhabit space shape or alter its meaning, and vice versa. I present this project as part of an active effort to critique the colonially and penally adjacent power structures upon which many universities are built. While my research and reflections remain focused on the University of Washington, they may serve as a case study for most of modern Western academia. Through this work, I hope to advance the push towards decolonial and interdisciplinary futures within STEM and academia, at large.

Retinoic acid-inducible gene (RIG-I) receptors (RLRs) are pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) that play a major role in innate immune defense against RNA virus infection. RLR RIG-I and melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) interact with viral RNA ligands in the cytoplasm via their N-terminal caspase recruitment domains (CARDS) to modulate antiviral immunity during an infection. Activated RLRs then signal through mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) to stimulate the production of type 1 interferon (IFN). IFN upregulates transcription of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) which encode proteins implicated in inducing an antiviral state to eliminate invading viruses.
Herein, we continue the evaluation of RLRs and their subsequent signaling partners in response to viral infection. To this aim, we utilize West Nile Virus (WNV), a neurotropic virus belonging to the Flaviviridae RNA virus family and commonly used to model positive sense RNA viruses and their role in RLR induced immunity. Two strains of WNV, WNV Madagascar (WNV MAD) which is attenuated in mice and WNV Texas (WNV TX) which is virulent in mice are used. The results demonstrated that the RLRs, specifically RIG-I, are significant contributors to the difference in virulence of pathogenic WNV TX and the non-pathogenic WNV MAD strains. Replication kinetics in knockout immunocompetent cell lines demonstrate that primarily RIG-I signaling through MAVS, not other RLRs (MDA5), restrict viral replication of WNV MAD but WNV TX in cell culture models. We also show the role of RIG-I and its restriction of WNV MAD intracellular viral protein accumulation. The specific mechanism of the restriction of WNV by RLR signaling is further elucidated, specifically the role of IFN in our cell culture model. Further studies will allow for the development of small molecule inhibitors or treatments that may aid in the prevention of severe disease caused by positive sense viral pathogens.