Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

As 2020 unfolded, a new headline began taking over front pages: “COVID-19”. In the months that followed, waves of fear, sorrow, isolation, and grief gripped the population in the viruses’ wake. We have all heard it, we have all felt it, indeed because we were all there. Trailing a few months behind those initial headlines, more followed that only served to breed misinformation and ludicrous theories. Even with study after study, quality, scientific data about this new virus could not come fast enough. There was somehow both too much information and also not enough. We were scrambling to process the abundance of raw numbers into some semblance of an explanation. After those first few months of the pandemic, patterns in the research are beginning to emerge. These horrific patterns tell much more than just the pathology of COVID-19. As the number of sick, surviving, and deceased patients began to accumulate, it became clear that some populations were left devastated, while others seemed unscathed. The reasons for these patterns were present long before the COVID-19 Pandemic. Disparities in health care were highlighted by the pandemic – not caused by it. The roots of these disparities lie in the five Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): (1) economic stability, (2) neighborhood and built environment, (3) education, (4) social and community context, and (5) health and health care. Minority populations, namely Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders consistently have higher diagnosis rates and poorer patient outcomes compared to their White American and Asian American counterparts. This is partly because minority populations tend to have jobs that pay lower, increase exposure risk, and provide little healthcare. When unemployment increased in the wake of the pandemic, minorities were the first to lose their jobs and their health insurance. In addition, these populations tend to live in densely populated neighborhoods, where social isolation is harder. Higher poverty rates encourage work DISPROPORTIONATE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON MINORITY POPULATIONS 3 rather than education, often perpetuating the cycle. The recent racial history and current aggressions towards minority people might produce a social attitude against healthcare Health care itself can be expensive, hard to find, and/or tied to employment, leading to poorly controlled comorbidities, which exacerbate poor patient outcomes in the case of COVID-19 infection. The healthcare delivery system plays little part in the SDOH, instead, public policy must be called to reform in order to fix these issues.

Our work explores a fascinating experiment in physics and science, the Double-Slit Experiment. We cover the mystery of this experiment, representing the wave and particle nature of photons, electrons, and quantum elements. We recount the history of quantum physics, an unknown field for most people due to its detachment from the world we see. Finally, we explore the capability of the human eye to detect light in its quantum state, closing the gap between us and quantum physics.

Our work explores a fascinating experiment in physics and science, the Double-Slit Experiment. We cover the mystery of this experiment, representing the wave and particle nature of photons, electrons, and quantum elements. We recount the history of quantum physics, an unknown field for most people due to its detachment from the world we see. Finally, we explore the capability of the human eye to detect light in its quantum state, closing the gap between us and quantum physics.

The 1970’s was an exciting time for those interested in avian navigation and magnetoreception. In the mid 1970’s, it had been scientifically proven that birds utilized the Earth’s magnetic fields as a means for orientation. However, while scientists now knew that birds could detect geomagnetic fields, a major question still remained: how? Several years later, physicist Klaus Schulten would bring the world much closer to an answer with the introduction of the radical pair model. With an extremely firm grasp of quantum mechanics, Schulten was able to make an amazing connection between the magnetically sensitive “radical pairs” and magnetic sensing in organisms (such as birds). The goal of this thesis is to explore this intersection of quantum mechanics and biology first illuminated by Schulten, through providing an in-depth explanation of the radical pair model itself, the quantum mechanical concepts that allow it to exist, the possible biological structures involved, and a small exploration of where the theory stands today, all to better understand the fascinating phenomenon of avian magnetoreception.

Toy hacks modify commercially available toys to be more easily used by people with motor disabilities, and donate them to schools, families, or toy libraries. Switch-adapting a toy adds an audio jack to allow an assistive technology (AT) switch to be plugged in. Switch-adapted toys help children develop essential skills through play. Hacking toys is helpful because toys that come with AT switches are often significantly more expensive than their unadapted counterparts. Toy hacks are also an opportunity to teach and practice engineering skills such as soldering and technical problem solving. Many resources are available online to assist makers with hosting toy hacks, but most of them lack information on holding the event. To fill this gap, the authors created a toy hack guide website, drawing from experience hosting two toy hacks. It walks users through steps like choosing the size of the event, the materials that need to be purchased, and connects them to other existing resources. In the future, it will be used to help people host more successful toy hacks.

Toy hacks modify commercially available toys to be more easily used by people with motor disabilities, and donate them to schools, families, or toy libraries. Switch-adapting a toy adds an audio jack to allow an assistive technology (AT) switch to be plugged in. Switch-adapted toys help children develop essential skills through play. Hacking toys is helpful because toys that come with AT switches are often significantly more expensive than their unadapted counterparts. Toy hacks are also an opportunity to teach and practice engineering skills such as soldering and technical problem solving. Many resources are available online to assist makers with hosting toy hacks, but most of them lack information on holding the event. To fill this gap, the authors created a toy hack guide website, drawing from experience hosting two toy hacks. It walks users through steps like choosing the size of the event, the materials that need to be purchased, and connects them to other existing resources. In the future, it will be used to help people host more successful toy hacks.

Anyone can be a leader, and this thesis project will be your guide to becoming a better leader in any aspect of your life! This project listens to the words of wisdom from leaders and compares those against the advice from scholars. From this discussion, a collection of traits emerge which can be built upon to become a better leader.