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This scholarship-to-practice paper examines the importance of engagement among college students and highlights a partnership between two online institutions -- a two-year community college and a university -- dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Guiding this work is the premise that higher education should be accessible to all who wish to pursue it, and that two institutions of higher education on opposite sides of the country can work together to share the stories and experiences of their students. The authors applied literature relating to belonging, engaging in campus activities, and the importance of sharing one's story to a partnership involving two different institutions and webinar discussions featuring underrepresented students.

The interaction of microcroplastics (MP) with dissolved organic matter, especially humic substances, is of great importance in understanding the behavior of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems. Surface modification by humic substances plays an essential role in transport and interaction of MP with abiotic and biotic components. Previous studies on the interaction between MP and humic substances were largely based on a model compound, humic acid (Sigma‐Aldrich). In our work, we therefore investigated the interaction of natural organic matter (NOM) sampled from a German surface water with low‐density polyethylene particles (LDPE). High‐pressure size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and UV/vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to characterize the incubation solutions after modifications due to the presence of LDPE, and Raman spectroscopy was used to characterize the incubated microplastics. While the studies of the solutions generally showed only very small effects, Raman spectroscopic studies allowed clear evidence of the binding of humic fractions to MP. The comparison of the incubation of NOM and a lignite fulvic acid which also was tested further showed that specific signatures of the humic substances used could be detected by Raman spectroscopy. This provides an elegant opportunity to conduct broader studies on this issue in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses nanotechnology and how co-regulation can be used to regulate the health risks associated with nanotechnology in the U.S. He mentions that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency of the U.S. federal government has statutory power under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to regulate risks associated with nanotechnology. He further talks about flexible co-regulation by interconnected divisions within key agencies.