Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Description
Cravingz is a web-based application that allows users to learn the maximum number of food items that they can purchase at a restaurant within a defined personal budget. We created two versions of this web-based application and asked 40 users to perform an A/B test to determine which version provides the best user experience in terms of efficiency and performance. Users who participated in this study completed a set of tasks to test these applications. Our findings demonstrate that users prefer a web application that does not require them to input data repeatedly to view combinations for multiple restaurants. Although the version which required reentry of data was more visually-pleasing, users preferred the version in which inputting data was a one-time task.
ContributorsPandarinath, Agastya (Co-author) / Jain, Ayushi (Co-author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Chavez-Echeagaray, Maria Elena (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
A Tale of Two Deserts: Examining Food Deserts in Downtown Phoenix is a 26 minute 46 second documentary by Kaly Nasiff. Link to documentary: https://youtu.be/4pRBIwHb2qM. The documentary starts by explaining what a food desert is, as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, and how the problem is compacted in downtown Phoenix. The USDA defines food deserts as, "parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers' markets and healthy food providers." There are over 40 food deserts in the city of Phoenix and two of them are in the heart of downtown. The documentary goes on to explain how food deserts can negatively affect the health of residents, who are most likely getting food from convenience stores in order to supplement the lack of grocery stores. The project also addresses how the city of Phoenix currently works to help residents and what its plans are for the future. There are several community initiatives that are fighting food deserts. Discovery Triangle's Fresh Express Bus makes weekly stops in the community to sell fresh produce at a discounted rate out of a refurbished city bus. The open air market at Phoenix Public Market is a farmers market that was established in 2005 to connect consumers with farmers, ranchers and food producers. Members of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church set up a mobile food pantry every fourth Saturday of the month for people to come and take an assortment of food, free of charge. Lastly, Roosevelt Growhouse is an urban farm that shows volunteers how to grow their own vegetables, along with supplying nonprofits and local restaurants with fresh produce. Downtown Phoenix won't be a food desert for much longer. RED Development is planning a multi-use project called Block 23, which will include a Fry's Food Store. The project doesn't open until 2019, so residents of downtown will have to continue utilizing the resources they have to keep themselves fed.
ContributorsNasiff, Kaly Ann (Author) / Craft, John (Thesis director) / Fergus, Tom (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Pizza, Pasta, Parmesan, this is Italian cuisine? What is conceived by many to be Italian cuisine and way of life is actually a glamorized and artificial unification of a multitude of different regional sub-cultures. The aim of my project was to provide a means through which other students can come to understand the diversity and complexities that make up the Italian culture and cuisine. The way in which this is to be accomplished was through the creation of a syllabus for a course here at ASU. The project aims to encourage students to think critically about the Italian lifestyle and how food and culture are interrelated. It is imperative that stereotypes surrounding the Italian culture are broken down and for the culture to be understood through a new lens. The manner through which Italian culture is examined rests upon the culture's impact on cuisine and the cuisine's impact on the culture. Italy's connections to the Mediterranean are explored through the cultural impacts of exchange and the scientific evidence behind the Mediterranean Diet. It is critical to consider cuisine when attempting to understand the history and culture of a location. Prezzolini's quote, "what is the glory of Dante compared to spaghetti?" was the starting point to which the questions surrounding the importance of cuisine were considered. One of the most important goals was to foster self-reflection and growth. As many of the texts challenge the preconceptions that most American maintain about Italian society, it is imperative that students reflect upon their own cultures and biases. For a course to have a meaningful impact upon the students the students must take something away from the course. The method of analysis was an analysis of the texts given the goals of the syllabus expressed through the learning outcomes. I concluded that the syllabus overall was sound. There was a wealth of texts which were unbiased or provided ample critiques to other readings. The texts also encourage students to reflect upon their own cultures and beliefs.
ContributorsHallquist, Jessika Anne (Author) / Vitullo, Juliann (Thesis director) / Minardi, Enrico (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12