Massive stars place powerful constraints on stellar evolution and exhibit a wide range of exotic evolutionary phases. They play a crucial role in regulating their environments, driving the chemical evolution of host galaxies, and establishing energy equilibrium through feedback processes. Stellar variability, notably, acts as a profound probe into the poorly-constrained physics of massive star evolution, illuminating intrinsic properties such as surface gravity. Drawing upon the collective insights from past literature on the dynamics of stellar rotation and surface gravity, this project delves into the correlation between variability metrics from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and surface gravity measurements from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) data. By merging these datasets, our aim is to use modern statistical methods to decode the relationship between observed variability and surface gravity in massive stars, shedding light on their rotational behaviors and structural changes over time. This endeavor not only seeks to deepen our understanding of stellar mechanisms but also to improve the precision in classifying stellar masses by utilizing variability as a key diagnostic tool. We endeavor to connect empirical observations with theoretical frameworks, paving the way for future advancements in our comprehension of stellar dynamics and their cosmic significance. Our results will place key constraints on the study of massive stars.

Challenges with social-emotional reciprocity, such as initiation of and response to social interactions, are a core diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and many children with ASD experience challenges with expressive language. Prior research demonstrates parents are accurate reporters of language and fine motor skills development, but may under report social emotional reciprocity. The goal of my study is to discern how well parent concerns around child social-emotional reciprocity and language correspond to observed virtual interactions with their child. In a larger study investigating interventions for children with social communication concerns, parent participants of toddlers aged 25-41 months (n=41) completed the Toddler Autism Symptom Interview (TASI), a structured interview about core autism symptoms, over Zoom. Parent-child interactions were recorded in the same session while they completed the TELE-ASD-PEDS (TAP), a telehealth ASD assessment for toddlers. As part of the larger study, I am assisting with coding child expressive language, including use of words and multi-word combinations. For my independent research, I am coding child behavior on two tasks from the TAP, ‘calling the child’s name’ and ‘approaching others to play’. ‘Calling the child’s name’ is coded as the number of times the child stopped what they were doing to look at their caregiver when their name was called, while ‘approaching others to play’ is the number of times the child approached their caregiver during a 2-minute period where their caregiver was instructed to sit back and ignore their child. I will compare coded behaviors with corresponding items on the TASI. I hypothesize that parent reports will be more consistent with coded observations for language concerns than for social-emotional reciprocity behaviors. Understanding whether social-emotional reciprocity is being accurately reported by parents can help clinicians provide accurate diagnoses for ASD, especially given the critical role of parents in the diagnostic process.

Seattle is known to be infested with invasive rodents such as the Norway rat or the roof rat; both of which are considered public health nuisances, causing damage to the built environment, carrying zoonotic diseases, and causing overall mental unrest as a communal species. This project collected community-level data using two urban rodent survey (URS) methodologies: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) URS methodology, which focuses on identifying causative conditions for rodents, and a newer method, Indexing, which focuses on active rodent surveillance. We surveyed census tracts spanning the University of Washington Seattle campus, UDistrict, and Ravenna neighborhoods using both URS methodologies. We then assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of both methods in determining the severity of rodent infestation within these communities. The data collected was used to inform a URS classroom model for ENVH 442, Zoonotic Diseases and their Control, offered by the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Washington Seattle. In addition, this project was shared with the Public Health Seattle & King County Rodent Control Program, to help inform their work on active rodent surveillance in the city of Seattle.

Many ecologically and economically important coastal invertebrates that live on the seafloor (eg. mussels, oysters, crabs, sea stars) have distinct larval stages that live up in the water column – collectively categorized as meroplankton. Meroplankton may face different environmental conditions than their adult forms that live on the seafloor. Moreover, planktonic larval stages are often more vulnerable to changes in oceanographic conditions than their adult counterparts. A variety of climate-related abiotic stressors (low pH due to ocean acidification, high temperature, low salinity) have been shown to negatively affect a variety of important life processes such as swimming ability, metabolism, growth, and survival in laboratory settings. However, owing to the logistical constraints of measuring oceanographic conditions and plankton abundance in the same time and place, it remains largely unknown which oceanographic variables affect the abundances of different meroplankton taxa in their natural habitat. To identify the oceanographic variables that primarily drive patterns of meroplankton abundance, we collected a two-year time series of oceanographic data (temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, current velocity) using the Friday Harbor Labs Ocean Observatory (FHLOO), the Salish Sea’s only multi-instrument remote sensing network. We simultaneously collected a two-year time series of plankton abundance for 20 different taxa of meroplankton by performing regular plankton tows at the FHLOO. Here, we focus on the oceanographic drivers of barnacle larvae (nauplii) abundance, as they metamorphose into important fouling organisms that slow boats by attaching themselves to the hulls, but also form ecologically important habitat for other organisms by attaching to rocky shores. We show several transient high temperature, low salinity events caused by freshwater pulses due to seasonal snowmelt into the Fraser River, which outputs into the Salish Sea north of the FHLOO in British Columbia. These hot, low salinity events coincide with spikes in the relative abundance of barnacle nauplii, suggesting that temperature and salinity drive barnacle nauplius abundance in the Salish Sea. Overall, we show the importance of collecting collocated oceanographic and plankton abundance datasets to uncover the climate-change related stressors that drive meroplankton abundance in ecologically important coastal habitats.

The poster highlights our study of shared pantry operators in Washington State. Shared pantries are generally small, unattended, open-access food-sharing areas that operate on a "take what you need, leave what you can" concept, supplied by donations from members of the local community. Professor Emily Hovis and I developed and deployed an operator survey to examine the differences between pantry operational structures. This research was prompted by a pattern we noticed during previous fieldwork: many pantries located at private residences were no longer active. I was involved in developing the survey, analyzing the data, and creating the poster. Over 300 current or former share pantry operators were contacted to participate in an online survey focused on operator demographics and operations. We received 62 survey responses in Autumn 2023. The majority of survey respondents (95.2%) identified their pantry is located outdoors, open 24/7, and accepts community drop-off food donations. More than half of the pantries are operated by individuals. Most of the organizations or groups operating the pantries were churches, schools, university groups, neighbors, and advocacy services. The majority (87%) of the pantries do not have a fridge/freezer section. More than half of the operators visit the pantry site more than four times a week. Only half of the respondents indicated that they provided guidelines on appropriate/safe donations. This study not only emphasizes the critical role of shared pantries in community solidarity but also raises an important future research question: How could the development and implementation of standardized guidelines and support systems impact the sustainability and effectiveness of shared pantries, particularly in enhancing community participation, donation quality, and pantry longevity?