Data are an essential factor in the fourth industrial revolution, demanding engineers and scientists to leverage and analyze their potential for significantly improving the efficiency of industrial processes and their control systems. In classical industrial process control systems, the models are constructed using linear data-driven approaches,…

This quantitative study investigates the predictive power of machine learning (ML) models on degree completion among adult learners in higher education, emphasizing the enhancement of data-driven decision-making (DDDM). By analyzing three ML models - Random Forest, Gradient-Boosting machine (GBM), and CART Decision Tree - within a not-for-profit,…

College and university enrollment has decreased nationwide every year for more than a decade as educational consumers increasingly question the value of higher education and discover alternatives to the traditional university system. Enrollment professionals seeking growth are tasked to develop and implement innovative solutions to address…

A neurological disorder, along with several behavioral issues, may be to blame for a child's subpar performance in the academic journey (such as anxiety, depression, learning disorders, and irritability). These symptoms can be used to diagnose children with ASD, and supervised machine learning models can help differentiate between ASD traits and…

Having a job immediately after graduation is the dream of every IT graduate. However, not everyone can achieve this outcome. The study's primary goal is to develop predictive models to forecast IT graduates' chances of finding a job based on factors such as academic performance, socioeconomic status, academic habits, and demographic data.…

While instances of cut and paste plagiarism among undergraduate college students has decreased over the past several years, a new form of plagiarism has emerged that often goes undetected by these software systems. Paraphrasing websites allow users to enter information from a source, which the website will then reword, giving the appearance of an…

This study investigates student perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI). The study analyzed four independent variables -- age, gender, school, and employment -- to predict students' level of readiness to adopt AI within an educational setting. Using an instrument with two constructs, data was collected from a diverse, multicultural group of…

New forms of visualizations are transforming how people interact with data. This dissertation explored how undergraduates learn with infographics. The following questions guided this research: (i) What do we know about the factors influencing the processing of data visualizations? (ii) How do task-level and learner-level characteristics impact the…

This dissertation comprises three chapters. The first two address issues within the education system, focusing on strategies to attract and retain high-quality teachers in the public sector. The third chapter, a collaborative effort with Martin Martinez and Miguel Saldarriaga, explores the application of machine learning tools for nowcasting…

Distributed self-assessments and reflections empower learners to take the lead on their knowledge gaining evaluation. Both provide essential elements for practice and self-regulation in learning settings. Nowadays, many sources for practice opportunities are made available to the learners, especially in the Computer Science (CS) and programming…

The results of an industry research survey showed, understanding Dissertation Research categories has not been the focused on many researchers and institutions. This research expands on machine learning methodologies using two similar datasets to answer these three questions: 1. Is there a way to track the trends of Pace University's Doctor of…

Securing employment poses a significant problem for information technology (IT) college and university graduates. An overarching purpose of this research was to inform IT faculty, IT hiring managers and IT graduates of which 42 critical IT skills best predict the offering of jobs to graduates and how long it takes graduates to receive such offers.…

This dissertation conducted a science classroom intervention using two instructional approaches, computational modeling and paper-based pictorial modeling, in the context of food webs. A series of research papers were written on the impact of the intervention on students' attitudes and learning, and on teachers via professional development and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of concept mapping strategies with different levels of generativity in terms of knowledge acquisition and knowledge representation. Also, it examined whether or not learners' self-regulated learning (SRL) skills influenced the effectiveness of concept mapping strategies with different…