Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    EXPLORING ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE AND AIR POLLUTION-RELATED HEALTH EFFECTS IN PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND
    (2024) Ravichandran, Vivek; Wilson, Sacoby M; Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Polluting facilities have been historically sited in disadvantaged communities of color, known as environmental justice (EJ) communities, due to limited perceived community resistance and mobilization. There is a plethora of air quality disparity research but a gap persists in ascertaining the health inequities associated with community exposure to air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC), at the neighborhood resolution. To address this gap in EJ science, this dissertation has four specific aims: (1) Implement the community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to expand and enhance the community-engaged infrastructure to ensure the success of Aims 2-4; (2) Identify spatiotemporal pollution patterns across the Route 50-Sheriff Road-Kenilworth Ave Quadrant; (3) Determine short-term health impacts associated with community exposure to PM and BC via a panel study involving pulse oximeters to correlate elevated PM and BC levels to blood oxygen saturation (SpO2 levels); and (4) Conduct semi-structured interviews and use NVivo to perform thematic analysis on barriers and motivating factors towards passing EJ legislation. My findings demonstrated that a more diverse and representative community advisory board (CAB) allowed us to successfully conduct research while maintaining trust within the community, and bringing in voices from various demographic groups, including different ethnicities, ages, income levels, and geographic locations. This led to a more comprehensive understanding of the community's concerns, priorities, and needs related to air quality. Additionally, my findings revealed that both PM and BC levels were elevated during morning rush periods. PM levels did not exceed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual standards, but did exceed the more protective World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Robert Gray Elementary School exhibited higher PM levels than the other Quadrant sites. Furthermore, BC levels at Fairmount Heights High School were above the threshold defined in the literature above which cognitive inhibition and poor respiratory outcomes have been observed, highlighting the effect of air pollution exposure on vulnerable life stages in the Quadrant. BC peaks were also observed 10-15x these unofficial health-based thresholds. Using a pulse oximetry panel study, we found previous and concurrent day lagged fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was weakly associated with reductions in SpO2. Using NVivo, we identified 18 parent codes and 27 subcategories from our semi-structured interviews with Maryland policymakers/agency staff. Key barriers were: (1) the lack of strategic EJ plans; (2) limited community engagement particularly from those living in communities impacted by environmental injustice; and (3) interagency and policymaker collaboration exacerbated by a clear partisan divide. These findings provide evidence of previous misclassified exposure assessments from sparse existing regulatory monitors, present strategies for overcoming EJ barriers in the state, and underscore the importance of collaboration, community engagement, and policy reform to address environmental disparities and promote environmental justice.
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    Using citizen science to collaboratively research and manage Chesapeake Bay
    (2021) Webster, Suzanne E; Dennison, William C; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Chesapeake Bay is a complex socio-ecological system with an equally complex adaptive management program. The environmental management community has expressed a need for more local-scale environmental data and increased stakeholder engagement in Bay restoration efforts. Although citizen science has the capacity to meet both of these needs, participatory research is currently underused and undervalued. Additional research is needed to help Chesapeake Bay environmental stakeholders develop and leverage citizen science partnerships to accomplish diverse research and management goals. This dissertation explored various challenges that limit the use and potential impact of citizen science in Chesapeake Bay. Three distinct studies were conducted to gain a more complete understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences concerning public engagement in scientific research. These studies employed several qualitative and quantitative approaches, including interviews, participant observation, surveys, and cultural consensus analysis. This research provided evidence of widespread agreement that diverse stakeholder concerns should be more prominent in management decisions. Research also found shared feelings of disempowerment across the Chesapeake environmental community. Environmental stakeholders appreciated that science plays a central role in informing environmental policy, but they had mixed perspectives on the utility of citizen science. This research found an underlying cultural understanding of environmental monitoring that provides a foundation for collaboration among stakeholders with different priorities. These findings indicate that citizen science programs can a) serve as boundary spanning organizations that help stakeholders foster a more cooperative mentality, b) allow diverse groups to strategically work together to accomplish goals, and c) increase the impact of volunteer-collected data on Chesapeake science and management. This research also showed that using a transdisciplinary approach to citizen science can increase stakeholders’ feelings of engagement, improve perceptions of a program’s overall credibility, and increase the program’s overall likelihood for impact. The results of this place-based study in the Chesapeake region are also broadly applicable to other socio-environmental systems. This dissertation provides evidence-based support for continued and expanded stakeholder engagement in environmental science and management and offers specific recommendations to support more collaborative, productive, and empowering citizen science partnerships that inform holistic and innovative environmental management decisions.