Mountain Scholar

Mountain Scholar is an open access repository service that collects, preserves, and provides access to digitized library collections and other scholarly and creative works from Colorado State University and the University Press of Colorado. It also serves as a dark archive for the Open Textbook Library.

Communities in Mountain Scholar

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Colorado State University, Fort Collins 28192
Explore the Colorado State University community’s scholarly output as well as items from the University at large and the CSU Libraries.
Open Textbook Library Archive 25
A limited number of titles are available here. To see all OTL titles, please visit the Open Textbook Library at https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks. Only Open Textbook Library staff have access to all OTL Archive titles held in Mountain Scholar.
University Press of Colorado 1088
Access is limited to University Press of Colorado members. Non-members: to purchase books, please visit https://upcolorado.com/.

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Lauren Holliday: capstone
(2026-05) Holliday, Lauren, artist
The artist's statement: My work is rooted in storytelling, with every piece designed to communicate emotion, meaning, and ideas that extend beyond what is immediately visible. I aim to create visuals with purpose, where each composition carries a narrative and invites viewers to engage with its intent and message. As a graphic designer and traditional artist, I work across both digital and physical mediums using Adobe Creative Suite, Krita, and traditional materials such as graphite, ink wash, colored pencil, chalk, and pen. My process begins with rapid sketching with Sharpie or pencil, allowing me to freely explore concepts before refining stronger ideas through research, observation, and a deeper investigation of the subject and its context. I focus on clarity, color-theory, balanced compositions, and a strong visual focal point, often leaning toward clean, minimal, and realistic aesthetics. I am inspired by growth, creativity, and the discipline of continually improving my skills. I strive for versatility in style to allow each artistic approach to suit each project's needs, ensuring the outcome aligns with the concept and audience. As a designer, I prioritize the client's vision and goals, aiming to translate their ideas into intentional, effective, and visually engaging solutions. My work reflects a commitment to hard work, thoughtful problem-solving, and developing designs that are both meaningful and functional.
Access status: Open Access ,
Empowering new voices in the outdoors - a series of workshops to educate, excite, and engage young women in outdoor recreation
(2026-05) Dashe, Juliette, author; Stafford, Nicole, advisor; Nichols, Melanie, committee member
The discrepancy between participation levels of men and women in outdoor recreation is becoming well-documented. The goal of this honors thesis is to address this inequality by leading workshops that educate and empower young women to pursue outdoor adventure. Systemic issues such as sexism, lack of opportunity and fear of violence, as well as issues such as lack of representation of women in outdoor spaces, failure to include girls from a young age in adventure sports, and a disconnect in wilderness courses to address women-specific topics (e.g., menstruating in the outdoors) can be found in literature about this gender-gap in outdoor recreation. The three workshops addressed how to navigate snow sports, hygiene and menstruating in the wilderness, and how to plan a trip. By creating a safe-space to discuss previous obstacles, talking to women who have similar experiences, and taking before and after surveys of participants, the results of my honors thesis demonstrates that these workshops are an effective method to address the disparity between men and women in the outdoors that other communities can harness going forward.
Access status: Open Access ,
Colombian roots, memory, and territory: an oral history of struggles over land rights
(2026-05) Morales, Sophia, author; Lavoie, Anna, advisor; Walker, Sarah, committee member
For my honors thesis I employ an auto-ethnographic approach to explore the intertwined histories of my Colombian family and the broader socio-political conflicts over land rights and governance in Colombia during the mid-20th century. Central to this study is my grandmother, who grew up in Bogotá before emigrating to the United States at age eighteen. Through her vivid recollections and family narratives, I trace the legacy of my great-grandfather, a liberal senator whose advocacy for rural peasants, Afro-Colombians, and working-class citizens positioned him against powerful corporate and governmental interests. His political engagement and subsequent loss of family land during a period marked by violent land dispossession illuminate the complex and often turbulent dynamics shaping rural Colombia. My methodology integrates oral history and testimonio, capturing firsthand accounts from my grandmother. These interviews serve as a foundation for an auto-ethnographic framework, blending personal experience with cultural and political analysis. This insider perspective enriches my understanding of Colombia's historical land conflicts, moving beyond abstract or generalized narratives to reveal the nuanced realities lived by families affected by these struggles. My findings reveal that my great-grandfather's efforts, though modest within the broader political landscape, were significant in resisting exploitation and advocating for marginalized communities. However, these efforts also exposed my family to considerable risks and losses. My research further critiques government-led agrarian reforms, highlighting their inadequacy in addressing deep-rooted land inequality. My study contributes to a more textured comprehension of Colombia's socio-ecological and political history by situating personal family history within larger systemic conflicts over land and power.
Access status: Open Access ,
Design and testing of a modular Raman cell and air sampling system for hydrogen gas detection
(2026-05) Cecil, Austin, author; Yalin, Azer, advisor; Windom, Bret, committee member
Hydrogen is emerging as a potential energy carrier and low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. As hydrogen infrastructure grows, detecting hydrogen emissions will become increasingly important for reasons including safety monitoring, quantifying product loss, and setting greenhouse gas inventories. Laser diagnostic methods such as coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) and photoacoustic Raman spectroscopy (PARS) can provide reliable detection of trace hydrogen gas concentrations but have primarily been demonstrated in laboratory environments. This study investigates the design of more compact system components and flow sampling hardware to enable practical field deployment of CARS or PARS for the development of a portable hydrogen gas sensing instrument. A modular Raman shifter cell was designed and tested at multiple lengths ranging from 0.5 to 2 meters. Testing involved maintaining a constant input laser energy while varying cell pressure to characterize Raman scattering conversion for a given cell configuration. In addition, a flow-through gas sampling system was designed to enable gas flow through CARS or PARS sample cells to support development of the instrument's air sampling system. Results show that reducing Raman cell length decreases the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) conversion which can be supplemented through an increase in gas pressure within the cell. Additionally, flow-through testing with nitrogen demonstrated that flow-induced acoustic noise is a limiting factor for PARS measurements, with higher flow rates producing increased acoustic noise that can interfere with detection sensitivity. The results demonstrate that compact Raman cell configurations and controlled flow sampling systems are viable for supporting development of a portable hydrogen sensing instrument capable of active ambient air sampling in field and industrial environments.
Access status: Open Access ,
Sugar as a genetic light switch: a sucrose-inducible expression system in Aspergillus niger
(2026-05) Plath, Bella, author; Khakhar, Arjun, advisor; Moss, Dylan, committee member
Mold is often condemned for its unwanted growth, such as on a cucumber in a lunchbox, in the corner of a shower, or in houseplant soil. However, this ability of mold to grow in a wide variety of environments makes it a powerful tool in modern biotechnology. Mold, or filamentous fungi, has diverse metabolite production which allows it to adapt to its surroundings. This capacity to express a vast range of products and stable growth makes it an ideal organism for large-scale production of metabolites. The filamentous fungi Aspergillus niger, specifically, produces an abundance of useful organic acids, enzymes, and proteins. The purpose of this research is to identify a method for increased yield of these target metabolites while also increasing the sustainability of the biofermentation process as a whole. The approach was implementing sucrose-inducible expression of target genes. In the presence of sucrose, A. Niger could increase yield of target metabolites. Additionally, the sucrose could induce morphological changes that cause the fungi to grow around a sucrose-producing cyanobacteria, creating a lichen-mimicking system. This system could drastically decrease the inputs needed for biofermentation, increasing process sustainability. This research works to confirm the ability of a sucrose-inducible promoter (PfopA) by increasing expression of a fluorescence protein in sucrose media. Using gene editing and fluorescence microscopy, this experiment demonstrated sucrose-inducible promotion of a target protein under sucrose culture conditions without compromising growth of the fungi. This knowledge suggests promising potential for gene editing techniques to increase A. niger production as well as creation of a synthetic lichen system for fungal production. These further developments would substantially improve sustainability and cost in current biofermentation industrial production processes.