The most decisive determinant of urban poverty is education, but New Jersey is one of the most segregated in this key source of socioeconomic mobility. In the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey, poverty rates are high, and education is underfunded in comparison to state standards. Although changes have been made, such as the landmark Abbott v. Burke case, which initiated a movement for education funding in 1985, many urban communities remain at risk. Due to the outdated School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008, which is chronically underfunded and poorly implemented, we are observing lower success rates among our most vulnerable populations, as shown in data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and the New Jersey Department of Education. For this reason, the correlation between education finance and academic success from 2004 to 2016 will be studied to provide influential information to present to the legislative offices of the New Jersey Legislature and to educate the public about an educational crisis that has been limited by research regarding state and local governments. During this study, data and cohort studies from government resources will be utilized to analyze whether education finance can significantly impact academic success. The goal of this study is to provide an analysis of key New Jersey cities to assist in future legislative changes to resolve current disparities in funding and reduce the risks of poverty in our underserved communities, in New Jersey and across the country.

Research has shown that noncitizens without access to legal representation, or pro se, are significantly less likely to successfully navigate the complex immigration court system and access relief from deportation proceedings. This study examines the multifaceted challenges faced by individuals who must represent themselves in U.S. immigration court and seeks to understand how they could effectively navigate proceedings to improve access to justice and immigration relief. To build this knowledge, we utilize a case study approach, focusing on the Fort Snelling immigration court in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our research is grounded in extensive courtroom observations at Fort Snelling, which capture both courtroom proceedings and the lived realities of pro se noncitizens as described in their hearings. The nuances and narratives captured through courtroom observation are often missing from other research or policy reports, which can overlook the complexities of individual cases. This research is also enriched by semi-structured interviews with attorneys and selected staff who work with noncitizens at the Fort Snelling immigration court. Interviews provide valuable perspectives on who gains access to legal representation (and who does not) and the resources available to both represented and unrepresented noncitizens in immigration court. This comprehensive approach highlights the urgent need for expanded access to legal support in immigration proceedings, emphasizing disparities in access to justice between noncitizens with and without representation and revealing barriers that unrepresented individuals encounter in their efforts to understand and navigate the intricate landscape of immigration laws.

In 2025, the Trump administration increased immigration enforcement dramatically with a goal to deport one million people each year, a rate three times higher than previous records. These policies have included U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at sensitive places like schools and hospitals, more ICE arrests farther from the U.S.-Mexican border, and more expedited deportations. These actions have deeply impacted Mexican and Mexican American communities, leading to unlawful arrests, tearing families apart, and causing anxiety. This research project asks what can lawmakers and legal advocates do to stop the abduction, detention, and deportation of undocumented people living away from the border and how to instead create fair processes, justice-based solutions, and paths to citizenship. Utilizing a qualitative policy analysis approach, we reviewed ICE data; federal, state, and local government policies; and immigrant rights reports to better understand how these enforcement practices work and what alternatives exist. The current policies clearly violate civil rights and hurt Mexican and Mexican-American families. Better access must be granted to lawyers, translators, and community-based support respecting human rights and the Constitution. This research highlights the urgent need for policy changes focused on due process and healing. It offers steps lawmakers and legal advocates can take to protect undocumented Mexican and Mexican American individuals and family members from being unfairly deported.

Educators of color are often treated differently by their colleagues and supervisors, leading to a disproportionate level of burnout among educators of color. However, the main source of burnout does not stem from the actions of these individuals; this burnout stems from systemic barriers present in the U.S. education system from ideas about race and ethnicity, including inequitable hiring practices and a lack of school administrative support. These barriers create a culture unsupportive of educators of color. The methodology will target educators of color who have worked in K-12 schools in the United States, collecting data on whether educators of color have faced adverse school culture that has caused them to be burned out. They will be asked if they have noticed any casting out that created a school culture causing them to burn out. Some examples of methods to collect this data are nominal surveys, focus groups, or individual interviews. The anticipated findings are that the educators of color will say that they have experienced burnout based on systemic casting out that created an adverse school culture. There is currently not much existing research that attributes educator burnout to how systemic casting out creates an adverse school culture. Therefore, this research is important because it showcases examples of systemic casting out to avoid perpetuating negative ideas of race and ethnicity. Supporting educators of color also empowers students who lean on educators of color as mentors, thus creating a supportive environment for both educators and students.

The evolution of public lighting is considered one of humanity’s greatest feats; being able to see at night and even bringing a sense of safety for many. However, in recent decades, there has been an uproar about how the improper use of lighting pollutes the skies, and even creates a bigger danger than having no lights at all. Many of these complaints often stem from the field of astronomy, as intruding lights affect how well observations can be done. This project involves tying together the history of lighting in Middletown, CT and how it has affected Astronomical research, and fulfilling the mission of public outreach. In order to do so, we have to use the glass plates that were used to take photographs of the sky from the mid 1920s to mid 1990s. Astronomers used these glass plates for parallax research, where each individual glass plate has three to four observations. Given that the observatory has over 50,000 of these plates, we have to look through the logs and determine what objects have the brightest sources. To accurately determine how much lighting poured into the dome during each observation, we must measure the least bright source from each plate and compare it to campus and civil lighting maps. We hope to determine the extent to which this lighting has changed over time and its effect on the effective performance of parallax research.