Research works

Automorphism groups of rigid affine surfaces: The identity component

It is known that the identity component of the automorphism group of a projective algebraic variety is an algebraic group.This is not true in general for quasi-projective varieties.In this note, we address the question as to when, given an affine algebraic surface Y , the identit...

The Relationship Between Coronary Artery Ectasia and PAI-1 4G/5G Gene Polymorphisms

Abstract Background: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is defined as diffuse or segmental dilatation of the coronary artery exceeding 1.5 times greater than the normal adjacent vessel diameter. The etiology of CAE is still not clarified. Higher plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-...

Unpolarized Shafarevich conjectures for hyper-Kähler varieties

We prove the unpolarized Shafarevich conjecture for hyper-Kähler varieties of a fixed deformation type, unifying earlier results for K3 surfaces and polarized hyper-Kähler varieties.We also study a cohomological variant in which good reduction is replaced by unramifiedness of coh...

Diversification as a Strategy: A Research-Based Plan to Cultivate New Audiences at the Richmond Symphony

Building a more inclusive audience is not a far-fetched idea; system diversification by its very nature is a performance strategy, not a performance goal. Changing audience demographics requires well laid out plans, achievable goals, effective processes, and a total organizationa...

The Effectiveness of the Virginia Network for Women: A Mixed Methods Study

Over the last 50 years, higher education institutions across the country have experienced growth in enrollment and degree attainment by women. However, despite the increase in educational merit, the representation of women in administrative and leadership roles within higher educ...

Review of Student Engagement, Assessment, and High-Impact Practice Implementation by Common Book Programs in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education

Common book programs are widely used by U.S. institutions of higher education to positively impact student engagement and student retention. This capstone project sought to determine the best practices in common book program assessment and high-impact practice implementation. A m...

A Comprehensive Audit of Professional Development for K-12 School Leaders in the Commonwealth of Virginia

The intent of this paper is to provide a mixed-methods audit of professional development provided to K-12 school leadership in Virginia's diverse landscape to include identification of providers, funding, effectiveness, and expectations. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, geographi...

Lower Appomattox River Water Trail Plan

Water Trails are designated boating trails along rivers, lakes, or other waterways, and typically include features associated with land trails. For example, signage, restrooms, and other amenities that support users. Generally, water trails are for paddlecraft: kayaks, canoes, ra...

Narrative for Expanding Visibility to Non-Black Students through Enrollment Management Practices for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

As the U.S. is growing more diverse, at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like VSU, non-Black students are considered underrepresented. Current declining enrollment numbers at VSU have become problematic, creating a budgetary shortfall that has impacted student...

Infra-sutures: New Perspectives in Responsive Design and Community Engagement

Whether considering the construction of highways, urban renewal, or concentrated poverty, many low-wealth communities of color bear the scars of inequity. These scars are symbols of racial and socioeconomic trauma with deep physical, cultural and economic impact; however, this pl...

Developing A Sustainable Model for Impactful Academic Advising

The primary focus of this research is advising delivery models for community colleges. This capstone focused on the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), namely John Tyler Community College (JTCC). The research focused on delivering the most consistently supportive advising f...

Parks & Equity: A Framework for Equitable Access in Richmond, VA Parks

Increasingly, cities are investing in their green spaces, such as open spaces and parks, as a strategy to improve the livability of the city, but also to improve the health of its residents. Research finds that access and proximity to green spaces provides a host of benefits to h...

Transit Feasibility Study for Chesterfield County, VA

This capstone presents a transit feasibility study for Chesterfield County, VA in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning in the VCU Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. GRTC Transit System (GRTC) is the primary public tran...

3014 Meadowbridge Rd: A Community-Engaged Opportunity-Based Re-investment Action Plan

This plan is an asset-based community response for 7th Street Memorial Baptist Church CDC as a way to revitalize and uplift the Six Points neighborhood of Highland Park. This plan was designed to provide a template for community engagement that would reintroduce a legacy of servi...

The Eastern Goochland Greenway: Connecting Goochland's Past, Present, and Future

The Eastern Goochland Greenway Plan proposes a shared-use trail that is nested within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) conceptualization of a statewide trail system called the James River Heritage Trail (JRHT). The JRHT includes shared use bicycle an...

Rehouse Richmond: Plan to Address the Eviction Crisis

Rehouse Richmond aims to recommend specific best practices and start-to-finish development of successful organizing strategies for anti-eviction work. The client for this plan, RISC, is an interfaith coalition of congregations across the Richmond region. Richmond has a compoundin...

Stadium Neighborhood Plan, Richmond, Virginia

The purpose of this document is to provide a 20 year comprehensive plan for the Stadium Neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. This document was produced as part of the requirements for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU...

Electronic Properties Associated with Donor Impurities in Multivalley Semiconductors

In this thesis we treat the theory of the electronic properties of excitons bound to a neutral donor in multivalley semiconductors. The materials considered here are Si, Ge and GaP. To deal with the effect of realistic band structures on the excitons bound to a neutral donor, we...

Green Infrastructure Initiative Plan

This plan was developed for the City of Richmond (VA) Department of Public Utilities with the purpose of identifying strategies to create Green Infrastructure (GI) development incentives among private properties. A series of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses are used...

Guiding Growth: A Growth Management Plan for Powhatan County

This plan offers Powhatan County a series of analyses and recommendations to maintain their rural character. Because of its proximity to the City of Richmond and other more-populated localities, Powhatan has been experiencing accelerated growth recently compared to historically....