As university-based community engagement programs expand through curricular and cocurricular initiatives, it is important to understand and assess their impact in advancing a key mission of higher education--to nurture and develop engaged citizens with a well-honed sense of civic identity. A literature review revealed a gap in the…

Prospective graduate students are usually required to have attained an undergraduate degree in a related field and high prior grades to gain admission. There is consensus that some relatedness between the students' undergraduate and graduate programs is required for admission. We propose a new measurement for this relatedness using cosine…

To meet an increasingly complex set of global challenges, undergraduate programs need innovative, well aligned curricula that prepare students to effectively address those challenges. This is especially true in programs such as sustainable food systems education (SFSE) where students learn to think systemically, critically, and reflectively, and…

Antioxidants are molecules that act against free radicals, and this effect can bring many benefits to health and society. Antioxidants can be found in various matrices of nature, such as fruits and plants. Some studies have shown that "Rhizophora mangle," a typical mangrove plant, is rich in antioxidants. People report its use for…

There is an increasing need for fundamental electrochemistry concepts to be taught in the undergraduate curriculum, given the broad applicability of electrochemical technologies in addressing a wide range of global issues from critical energy shortages to real-time medical diagnostics. However, many electrochemical concepts are often taught in…

Enzymes, enzymatic kinetics, and enzyme inhibition are topics covered in undergraduate biochemistry textbooks, having perceptible relevance to everyday life. The experimental use of enzymes involved in basic physiologic processes may be of utmost pedagogic interest because they bring evidence on how a significant number of drugs are used to…

This article presents computational chemistry exercises that are designed to be incorporated into an undergraduate physical chemistry course. This activity teaches computational chemistry as it is performed in higher-level research (in a command-line environment and executed on a high-performance computing cluster) to provide students with a…

Thin-layer chromatography, which involves the movement of dyes along a silica-coated plate, is used to observe the progress of chemical reactions and to separate mixtures. We took advantage of this phenomenon to devise a method for generating patterns in the shape of numbers with dots (dot matrix). We prepared the azo dyes necessary for generating…

In this laboratory teaching experiment, commercial cannabis oils were analyzed by undergraduate organic chemistry students using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to investigate three isomeric cannabinoids commonly found in cannabis products: cannabidiol (CBD), [delta][superscript 9]-tetrahydrocannabinol ([delta][superscript 9]-THC),…

Understanding the basics of d-electron configuration and the spin state of coordination complexes are essential elements of undergraduate inorganic chemistry. However, students in these courses find it difficult to conceptualize the ideas. Here, we have developed an undergraduate laboratory experiment that allows students to systematically…

In this design case, we describe our design process that resulted in recommendations for a four-year undergraduate curriculum in transdisciplinary studies. The case is centered on a fast-paced, two-week design "sprint" undertaken by the two authors, which involved consolidating and synthesizing program evaluation data and course designs…

Purpose: A significant number of studies suggest that both international cooperation (IC) and English proficiency (EP) greatly assist internationalization of higher education (IHE). Yet, more evidence is required to confirm their relationship. Hence, this paper intends to investigate whether any association prevails between IC and EP, and if so,…

Structural questions about the undergraduate political science major have spurred debates in the field for more than thirty years. Today, resurgent growth of unusually sharp threats to American democracy fuel familiar curricular questions with new urgency. However, the combined effects of inertia, bureaucratic hurdles, and resource constraints…

This paper explores the value of autoethnography in the context of student teaching and learning. The manuscript situates autoethnography within restorative and critical pedagogies and draws from students' impressions to examine how autoethnography aids in developing self-awareness, empathy, and vulnerability as emotional resiliency. Further…

This article presents a memorable method to introduce new students to the concept of political needs. Using an adaptation of Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" to one of "Hierarchy of Political Needs" the instructor presents how needs for "physiological survival," safety, belonging, "recognition," and…