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 - 8 of 8
Description
In today's dynamic societal landscape, the critical evaluation of public policies holds paramount importance. This thesis project, undertaken by a Barrett Honors student of Public Policy, endeavors to contribute to this essential discourse by creating a policy critique podcast.
The primary objective of this project is to produce two podcast episodes that delve into the intricacies of housing policy. Through a meticulous examination, these episodes will dissect the implications of the selected housing policy. By offering a nuanced perspective, the podcast aims to illuminate the complexities inherent in housing policy issues, enriching the understanding of listeners.
This thesis project represents a scholarly endeavor to engage in informed discussions about the efficacy and implications of policies, specifically housing policies. Through the medium of podcasting, the project seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and public discourse to foster a deeper understanding of housing policy among a diverse audience.
Ultimately, this thesis project aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding public policies, particularly in the realm of housing policy, by providing listeners with valuable insights and fostering critical thinking about contemporary policy challenges.
ContributorsCruz, Corinn (Author) / Uebelherr, Joshua (Thesis director) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsCruz, Corinn (Author) / Uebelherr, Joshua (Thesis director) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsCruz, Corinn (Author) / Uebelherr, Joshua (Thesis director) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
With uses in fields such as medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology, halogenases are useful enzymes in nature which add or substitute halogens onto other molecules. By doing so, they become necessary for biosynthesis and cross-coupling reactions. Halogenases can be classified by three main types of mechanisms: nucleophilic, radical, and electrophilic. From there, they can be further broken down by the halogen involved, the substrate needed, other proteins used, or molecules generated. A notable example is PrnA which is a tryptophan-7 halogenase that falls under the flavin-dependent definition with an electrophilic mechanism. Historically, research on these enzymes was slow until the use of bioinformatics rapidly accelerated discoveries to the point where halogenases like VirX1 can be identified from viruses. By reviewing the literature available on halogenase since their first analysis, a better understanding of their functions can be obtained. Also, with the application of bioinformatics, a phylogenetic analysis on the halogenases present in cyanobacteria can be conducted and compared.
ContributorsUsmani, Hibah (Author) / Zhu, Qiyun (Thesis director) / Neilan, Brett (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The Crystals in All of Us is a children's book creative project that is meant to reflect the impact a community has on a child, and vice versa. Made specifically for the special needs students I work with, it is a generalizable lesson. It incorporates various art principles, as well as child and human development theories, such as Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
ContributorsRoodettes, Nicolas (Author) / Fonseca-Chavez, Vanessa (Thesis director) / Williams, Wendy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
The Southern Baptist Convention’s missional branch, North American Mission Board, and their church planting subsidiary, Send Network, failed to provide online communication guidance to help establish (or plant) new faith communities. Only 13% of Evangelical Protestants are under the age of thirty (Pew Research Center, 2015). If the Southern Baptist Convention wants their church plants to grow in a media-focused society, they must learn how to communicate with the generations who were born with technology in their hands. The purpose of this study is to identify which content and frequency Southern Baptist Churches in Metropolitan Phoenix should use to reach their target community.
The project began by conducting research on twelve Send Network church plants within fifteen miles of the center of downtown Phoenix. The results led to drafting a communications and branding guideline for one of the Send Network’s church plants, Mercy Hill Church, creating a ten-week posting schedule to collect insights on content and frequency of posts, analyzing and identifying best practices for its social media strategy and tactics.
The ideal posting schedule and ratio of still image and video content for Mercy Hill Church on Instagram and Facebook was revealed. Additionally, it was identified the best day of the week to publish each type of post out of these seven: community, Scripture, worship, testimony, ministry highlight, sermon recap and church invite.
Overall, the project determined that a consistent and cohesive Instagram and Facebook posting schedule increased traditional college-aged student engagement with Mercy Hill Church. It also resulted in an ideal posting schedule for Southern Baptist church plants if their target audience includes traditional college-aged students.
ContributorsDellaripa, Amelia (Author) / Matera, Frances (Thesis director) / Hass, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
With the reality that 60% of post-graduates are less satisfied with their social life in adulthood than in college, many young adults find themselves searching to solve the shared fear of finding communities in new spheres of life. Jillian Cote and Mia Cavalier's social application concept, "The Loop", addresses this problem through unique recommendations based on location services, authentic UGC, and entertaining digital appearances. Through extensive research and development, a prototype has been designed for the application interface, and intensive surveys and interviews have been conducted to pinpoint target markets, consumer interest, and ultimate adoption potential.
At its core, "The Loop" is a modern, efficient, and functional social application for young adults and post-graduates to stay connected to key parts of their lives regardless of the life phase they’re in. It allows each individual to focus on what’s important to them, while the app keeps them in the loop for everything else.
ContributorsCote, Jillian (Author) / Cavalier, Mia (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Swader, Melissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric brain cancer and accounts for 20% of all pediatric brain tumors. Upon diagnosis, patients undergo tumor-resection surgery followed by intense chemotherapy and cerebrospinal irradiation (CSI) regimens. CSI therapy is highly toxic and poorly tolerated in pediatric patients and is known to cause long-term neurocognitive, endocrine, and developmental deficits that often diminish the quality of life for medulloblastoma patients. The development of targeted therapies is necessary for both increasing the chance of survival and reducing treatment-related morbidities. A potential therapeutic target of interest in medulloblastoma is the polyamine biosynthesis pathway. Polyamines are metabolites present in every living organism and are essential for cellular processes such as growth, survival, and differentiation. Recent studies have shown that polyamine production is dysregulated in several cancers, including brain cancers, and have highlighted polyamine biosynthesis as a potential cancer growth dependency. Dysregulated polyamine metabolism has also been linked to several oncogenic drivers, including the WNT, SHH, and MYC signaling pathways that characterize genetically distinct medulloblastoma subgroups. One way to target polyamine biosynthesis is through the inhibition of the rate-limiting enzyme ornithine decarboxylase with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an analog of the polyamine precursor ornithine. DFMO is well-tolerated in pediatric populations and exerts minimal toxicities, as shown through neuroblastoma clinical trials, and is a therapy of interest for medulloblastoma. While DFMO has been tested clinically in multiple cancers, few in vitro studies have been performed to understand the exact mechanisms of anti-proliferation and cytotoxicity. Our study screened two immortalized medulloblastoma cell lines, DAOY (SHH) and D283 (non-WNT/non-SHH), and three patient-derived medulloblastoma cell lines, SL00024 (SHH), SL00668 (non-WNT/non-SHH), SL00870 (Unknown subgroup), for DFMO sensitivity and profiled the immortalized medulloblastoma cell line metabolome to understand the interactions between inhibition of polyamine metabolism with other essential metabolic processes and tumor cell growth. We found that medulloblastoma cell lines are sensitive to DFMO and the adaptive response to DFMO in medulloblastoma may be caused by increased oxidative stress and free radical scavenging. Our study hopes to inform the use of DFMO as an anti-cancer therapy in medulloblastoma by understanding the drug’s single-agent anti-proliferative mechanisms.
ContributorsFain, Caitlyn (Author) / Buetow, Kenneth (Thesis director) / Pirrotte, Patrick (Committee member) / Pathak, Khyati (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05