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Abstract
My dissertation is comprised of research from two distinct fields: fungal cellularbiology and discipline-based education research (DBER). The fungal cellular
biology portion of my dissertation focuses on mechanisms of nuclear migration
during rice cell invasion and proliferation by the blast fungus, Magnaporthe
oryzae. Specifically, I characterized the involvement of the mitotic spindle in
mediating nuclear migration at three different stages of rice blast infection:
nuclear migration through the germ tube of developing appressoria, nuclear
migration through the narrow penetration peg, and nuclear migration through the
narrow invasive hyphal peg. The structure of the nuclear envelope is also
described during nuclear migration through the germ tube of developing
appressoria. Conserved kinesin motor proteins, MoKin5 and MoKin14, were
identified, and their function in mediating nuclear migration through the
penetration peg was analyzed using an overexpression approach. These studies
provide fundamental knowledge about the cellular biology of the rice blast fungus
during the early stages of rice cell invasion and colonization that can serve as a
basis for future research. My DBER studies focus on the self-advocacy
experiences of students with ADHD and specific learning disabilities (SLD) in
undergraduate STEM courses. Research interviews with 25 STEM majors with
ADHD and SLD were conducted. From an in-depth qualitative analysis, a revised
conceptual model of self-advocacy emerged. This revised self-advocacy model is
tailored to STEM undergraduates with ADHD and SLD. We utilized this revised
self-advocacy model to conduct an additional analysis of the interview data. In
this study, the factors that influence self-advocacy were identified. We proposed
a model to understand how these factors interact to support or hinder selfadvocacy
within undergraduate STEM courses. Our revised model of selfadvocacy
provides implications for both future research and teaching.