VTechWorks
VTechWorks provides global access to Virginia Tech scholarship, including journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, and more by faculty, students, and staff. Faculty can deposit items to VTechWorks from Elements, including journal articles covered by the University open access policy. Email vtechworks@vt.edu for help.
Open Access Policy
Virginia Tech's open access policy enables researchers to deposit the accepted version of scholarly articles with no embargo.
Theses and Dissertations
Virginia Tech was first in the world to require ETDs in 1997, and continues to add scans of older theses and dissertations.
Open Textbooks
More than 50 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.
Communities in VTechWorks
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Recent Submissions
Developing Psychological Safety in Collegiate Cheerleading: A Leadership Guide for Coaches and Captains
Maynard, Eli (Virginia Tech, 2026-05-11)
Cheerleading is a unique setting where athletes perform high-risk stunts that require strong trust and communication. Despite this, leadership development in sports takes a general approach and doesn't consider the specific needs of cheerleading, where poor communication can directly affect safety. The goal of this project was to tackle the lack of sport-specific leadership development in collegiate cheerleading by emphasizing psychological safety as a pillar in athlete well-being. Research indicates that psychological safety, which is the belief that individuals can speak up without fearing negative consequences, is crucial for team learning and overall effectiveness (Frazier et al., 2017). However, there are no tools that have been designed specifically for collegiate cheerleading teams. To fill this gap, a self-guided leadership curriculum was created for collegiate cheerleading coaches and captains. The curriculum aimed to translate leadership theory into strategies applicable to real-world team settings in the cheer world. The final product consisted of three modules. These modules focused on understanding psychological safety in athletic environments, leadership practices that encourage trust and accountability, and communication strategies for handling challenges and conflicts. Each module included instructional content, case studies, self-assessments, and reflection activities meant to aid both understanding and application. The curriculum was designed to be user-friendly so that coaches and captains could use the material independently. By raising awareness of how leadership and communication shape team environments, this curriculum offers a practical method for creating psychological safety in cheerleading. The findings suggest that incorporating psychological safety into leadership development can boost team cohesion and improve the overall athlete experience (Edmondson & Lei, 2014). This project focuses on collegiate cheerleading, but it can be adjusted for other high-risk team sports where communication and trust are important for safety.
Exploring Leadership Influences and Practices Among Mixed Animal Veterinarians Serving Cattle Producers in the United States
Martin, Ashley (Virginia Tech, 2026-05-23)
This study was a qualitative phenomenological study exploring how mixed animal veterinarians influence the adoption of diagnostic tools in cattle practice and the barriers they encounter in this process. Mixed animal veterinarians play a critical role in supporting livestock producers, herd health, and the broader U.S. food system, particularly in rural areas where access to veterinary services continues to decline. While previous research has examined veterinary communication and decision-making, much of this work has focused on companion animal practice, with less attention given to mixed animal veterinarians. This study explored the lived experiences of mixed animal veterinarians and how professional experience, communication, and leadership influence diagnostic decision-making. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven practitioners across the United States. Findings indicate that mixed animal veterinarians influence diagnostic adoption through relationship-based leadership, including guided decision-making, adapting recommendations to economic and practical constraints, and building trust with producers over time. Participants also described how early career exposure, mentorship, and hands-on experience shaped their development as veterinarians and leaders. Barriers to diagnostic use included financial limitations, producer preferences, and established practices within rural operations. Overall, this study highlights the importance of mentorship and leadership development in supporting diagnostic adoption in practice.
MyIPM for Vegetables as an Integrated Pest Management Tool for Virginia Vegetable Industry Professionals
Belesimo, Katherine (Virginia Tech, 2026-05-23)
The MyIPM for Vegetables app is a free integrated pest management tool for industry professionals. The app is the latest release of the MyIPM app series, which includes MyIPM Fruit and Nut, MyIPM Row Crops, and MyIPM Hawaii. App content for MyIPM for Vegetables was written by contributors from land-grant institutions across the Southeast region of the United States. Commodities included in the app are tomato, cucurbits, peppers, and brassicas. App usage data and relevance to Virginia are discussed. Next steps to further evaluate usage trends and further serve Virginia producers are also introduced. An overview of Land-grant Institutions, Cooperative Extension, integrated pest management, the MyIPM app series, and Agriculture Census data is also presented.
A New Water Cooler: Urban Farms in the Workplace
Attaway, Lisa (Virginia Tech, 2026-05-12)
The purpose of this intrinsic case study is to examine a North Texas urban farm in the workplace to better understand the motivation and strategic objectives of company leadership in creating the urban farm program, as well as employees' experience and perceptions of the urban farm. Using a mixed-method approach, interviews were conducted with five leaders in three companies involved in creating and maintaining the urban farm and its programs. 27 employees who participated in farm events during the spring season of 2026 completed a survey reflecting their opinions on the urban farm and its programs. The results create a narrative of how the farms advance the company’s sustainability and employee engagement strategies, as well as the positive experiences of employees that affirm the leadership's goals and hopes for the urban farms in their workplace.
The Role of Math Courses in Engineering Education: Examining How Math Courses Shape First-Year Student Transition, Curriculum Complexity, and Time-to-Degree
Ryan, Olivia Jane (Virginia Tech, 2026-05-26)
Mathematics is foundational to engineering, yet it often functions as a gatekeeper. Most engineering programs follow a rigid, hierarchical curriculum that assumes students begin in Calculus 1 during their first semester to remain on track. However, many students enter engineering and do not place into Calculus 1, instead beginning in Pre-Calculus. Due to long prerequisite chains, these students frequently fall behind their peers and must complete additional coursework to progress through the curriculum. Although mathematics is important to engineering, the way the curriculum is structured can unintentionally exclude interested and motivated students who do not place directly into Calculus 1, which unnecessarily limits who can study engineering. This concern is particularly concerning in the current context, as mathematics achievement and standardized test scores among U.S. students declined following the COVID-19 pandemic and have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with disparities across school characteristics. These conditions underscore the need to more closely examine the role of mathematics in shaping pathways into and through engineering education.
My multi-study dissertation provides a holistic overview of the role of math courses in engineering across three manuscripts. In the first study, I conducted semi-structured interviews during the 2022-2023 school year with 15 first-year engineering students enrolled in Calculus 1 in their second semester. I thus considered "off track" from the prescribed engineering math sequence. Most of the participants were in high school during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, learning Algebra and Pre-Calculus. Using Schlossberg's transition theory, I illuminate students' experiences transitioning to remote learning during the pandemic and how it impacted their math readiness, as well as their transition to the university and into engineering. Students had varied experiences transitioning to remote learning, with complicated hybrid learning systems that affected their math readiness. Students' transition to university was further affected by their math readiness status, but the impact of being considered "off track" in math did not have equal impacts across students.
In the second study, I quantify and compare curriculum complexity and math cruciality (the proportion of a curriculum's complexity attributable to required math courses) across engineering disciplines and institutions, while also examining the relationship between complexity and institutional and program characteristics. The findings showed that Mechanical Engineering had the highest complexity score, compared to Civil and Electrical Engineering. However, despite differences in curriculum complexity across disciplines, the required math courses consistently accounted for approximately 30% of the curriculum's complexity. I also found differences in the required math courses across disciplines: beyond the core calculus sequence, there is significant variation. I also used regression and cluster analyses to examine how program and institutional characteristics shape complexity trends; these analyses revealed that less selective institutions often exhibit higher curriculum complexity scores.
In the third study, I use a large institutional dataset to examine how students' math placement and the complexity of their major can relate to their time-to-degree. I used the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) alongside a MIDFIELD curriculum complexity dataset to examine the relationship between math placement, curriculum complexity, and time-to-degree for engineering students. I used a Hierarchical Linear Model to identify factors predicting time-to-degree and a two-way ANOVA to examine how an engineering student's math placement affects the curriculum complexity of the major they chose. The model showed that an engineering student's first math course was the most significant predictor of time-to-degree, and students who start in different math courses pursue majors with differing curriculum complexity scores.
Across these manuscripts, I provide a holistic overview of the role of math courses in the engineering curriculum. By focusing on the role of math courses, I hope to illuminate how mathematics often acts as a structural barrier in engineering education, but can also be used as a lever for change.