IDA

Mount Holyoke College Institutional Digital Archive

The Institutional Digital Archive (IDA) is a service that collects, preserves, and showcases the scholarly work of MHC's faculty and students. Some materials are restricted to the campus community and require an MHC login to access.

Communities in IDA

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Archive of U.S. Sanctuary Policies, 2001-2014
This is an archive of United States immigration sanctuary policies that were passed from 2001-2014. The archive contains four main collections organized by policy type: Executive Orders; Ordinances; Policing Policies; and Resolutions. There are 234 policies in the archive. Welcome!
Campus Living Laboratory Initiative
This community houses data collected on campus as part of the Campus Living Laboratory Initiative. Data include those collected from environmental monitoring stations, as a result of faculty and student independent projects, or data collected in labs or other collection exercises. Datasets are presented with varying levels of access as described by the party responsible for uploading the data.
College Initiatives and Programs
Faculty -- Research, Data, Projects, and Papers
Repositories for retaining data and scholarly research of the Mount Holyoke College faculty
Students -- Research, Data, Projects, and Papers
Repositories for retaining data, scholarly research, and academic output of Mount Holyoke College students

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Fueling Freedom: Germany’s Energy Transition and the Russo-Ukrainian War
(2026-06-30) Pickett, Zoey; Mitchell, Christopher
This thesis examines the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on Germany’s renewable energy transition, called Energiewende. Over time, Energiewende turned Germany into the blueprint for large economies to build a climate friendly economy without jeopardizing growth. Germany relied on Russian fossil fuels, including liquified natural gas (LNG) and oil, to sustain a steady and affordable supply while creating their renewable energy markets. While dependence on Russian energy is common in Eastern and Central Europe, Germany was heavily criticized for their dependence — opponents cited security risks and support of an unethical regime as reasons for the country to abandon the source. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, German leadership grew immediately concerned with their supply of energy from Russia and began preparing for a severe scarcity of supply. During this period the discourse around Energiewende began to shift. Renewable energy is no longer just a source of clean energy, it has become the symbol of energy independence — even being bestowed the title the ‘freedom energy’. The newfound motivation of energy security led to a rapid acceleration of renewable energy expansion. As argued throughout this thesis, the acceleration took place precisely because of the newfound security motivation, as Energiewende underwent the process of securitization to shift away from Russian energy as quickly as possible. These findings suggest the framework to which nations think about renewable energy may be important for how rapid a clean energy transition occurs. Since many nations hold energy security and independence as a top priority, can renewable energy be their ticket to freedom?
Access status: Open Access ,
Climate variability and its Effects on Agricultural Yields in Sub-Saharan Africa
(2026-06-30) Kohli, Ananya; Robinson, Michael
This research project examines the relationship between short-run climate variability in the form of temperature and rainfall anomalies and agricultural yields. Utilizing data from longitudinal surveys conducted by the World Bank (LSMS-ISA), I investigate how short-run temperature and rainfall anomalies affect plot-level yields in Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Malawi, and Tanzania. Previous literature provides strong evidence that climate variability affects agricultural productivity. A study indicates that negative rainfall shocks (drought like conditions) reduce household consumption and agricultural yields (Amare et al. 2018). Additional evidence indicates that temperature has non-linear effects on the yields of staple crops (Schlenker and Lobell 2010). I hypothesize that negative rainfall anomalies and extreme temperature shocks decrease yields, particularly in regions that are highly dependent on rainfall. To test this, I constructed standardized rainfall and temperature anomaly measures and estimated ordinary least squares, household fixed effects regressions, and a series of extreme shock models that estimated droughts, heat shocks, flood shocks and frost shocks along with positive and negative rainfall and temperature shocks. Extreme shocks are defined as being ±1.5 standard deviations from the mean and the positive and negative rainfall shocks are defined as being ±0.5 standard deviations from the mean. The results are consistent for rainfall shocks, an increase in rainfall across the specifications is associated with higher yields, ranging from 5% to 9% (around 7% in the household- fixed effects model), while temperature effects range from 9% to 19%. Temperature effects decline when enumeration area (EA) fixed effects are included; this indicates that cross location differences are driving the temperature coefficients up. These findings remain robust under the household fixed effects specifications. Quadratic forms of the rainfall and temperature z-scores were found to be insignificant across the specifications. Additional specifications indicate that a negative rainfall shock leads to a 7% reduction in yields, while positive rainfall shocks display positive effects, but lose their significance when EA fixed effects are included.
Access status: Open Access ,
Good Girls, "Bad Girls," and "Dirty Girls": The Stakes for Marginalized Girls in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(2026-06-30) Cieprisz, Nyx; Moskowitz, Alex
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has long been hailed as a feminist show for its reworking of horror’s final girl trope. Instead of being either feminine and a victim or masculine and a hero, the show combines femininity with heroism through the central figure of Buffy. But is the mere representation of female heroism enough to warrant feminist praise? Feminist and poststructuralist theorists have long argued that “woman” is a multivocal category and challenged the framework of representation for its assumption of a universal “woman,” or “girl” subject. Yet Buffy centers around one blonde, white, middle-class girl and her struggles to be a normal girl, creating a gendered ideal of normalcy. A close reading of two other Slayer characters reveals that Buffy’s normalcy is upheld over the experiences of girls of color and working-class girls. I argue that this exclusion is no accident but by design; the show’s choice to represent girlhood through Buffy effectively universalizes Buffy’s experience of girlhood. This universalization shows how appeals to “girl” as a stable category will always end up reifying hegemonic notions of girlhood, pointing us towards the pitfalls and limitations of representation as a feminist political tactic.
Access status: Open Access ,
Country Connections and Coterie Conflicts: Examining How Queer Appalachians Experience Community
(2026-06-30) Elder, Lillian; Flanders, Corey
Queer communities in Appalachia contain a unique set of strengths and vulnerabilities that impact their formation and outcomes. Higher amounts of poverty and religiosity in Appalachia follow the model of minority stress theory and create additional challenges for queer Appalachians. This project examined how these individuals experience their communities, and how this impacts their mental and sometimes physical health. Through interviewing 8 queer Appalachians and employing reflexive thematic analysis, I constructed five key themes that exemplify participant’s experiences. These themes are 1). Many of the other negative experiences within these communities can be traced to a high prevalence of intergenerational trauma and widespread poverty, and queer people in south-central Appalachia understand this. 2). Reactions to those that cause harm are different: queer Appalachians have complicated, often bitter feelings towards religion, contrasted with a deep empathy for fellow queer community members. This is likely because of theme 3)., which is the presence of deep and emotional ties that encourage queer people to rely on each other for support, especially given that this support is denied to them from other traditional places of support in Appalachia, like the church and family. 4). Queer Appalachians very intentionally distinguished themselves from other queer communities around the United States, and had a sense of pride in this difference. Finally, 5). Despite growing political hostility, there was still a sense of hope, and many interviewees gave suggestions on what would help facilitate a better future for this community. This thesis examines these themes and explains their nuances to provide a clear and empathetic insight into this unique and resilient population. By doing this, we can work towards culturally-conscious solutions that address the systemic injustices faced by queer Appalachians.
Access status: Restricted ,
Validation of a Tobacco Rattle Virus (TRV)-Induced Gene Editing System in Physalis grisea (Groundcherry)
(2026-06-30) Salazar, Domenica; Frary, Amy
Physalis grisea, known as groundcherry, is an orphan crop with agricultural potential due to its nutritional, medicinal, and economic value. Limited genetic tools for its improvement have harmed this crop’s wider adoption. This project validated a TRV-induced gene editing system in Physalis grisea. In this method, Agrobacterium infiltration introduced TRV constructs carrying gene-specific sgRNAs, including an FT motif to enhance systemic movement, into leaf tissue. The sgRNAs, combined with the Cas9 expressed in the plant, produced edits in the target gene: the PHYTOENE DESATURASE (PDS) gene. PDS modifications disrupted carotenoid production, leaving chlorophyll vulnerable to light-induced damage and producing photobleaching. This PDS-loss phenotype was observed in >94% surviving PDS-infiltrated Cas9-expressing plants, while control groups were unaffected (n>450 across 3 replicates). The degree of photobleaching varied and mosaic patterns were observed in leaves, husks and possibly fruits. Microscopy verified and quantified the degree of photobleaching (31%). Plant growth was unaffected by photobleaching, but was negatively influenced by agroinfiltration, which also caused mortality. These results validate TRV mediated PDS editing as a proof-of-concept in P. grisea by showing the efficacy and reproducibility of the system thereby supporting the use of the system for future gene studies and improvement strategies in the crop.