Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

The environment today is facing concerns over accumulation of plastics in landfills as well as excessive CO2 emissions. Containers and packaging take up approximately 15 million tons each year, and accumulations such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are entering the oceans. Work has been done to alter and treat polyethylene plastic to be added to cement mixtures. This is done to increase bearing capacity and ductility of concrete in addition to decreasing carbon emissions and plastic waste.

This creative project outlines the steps taken to successfully plan and host a fundraising event at Arizona State University. In my case, this more specifically dealt with organizing a dodgeball tournament between two friendly rivals: police officers and firefighters in the city of Phoenix. All proceeds raised from this fundraising dodgeball tournament were donated back to first responders working in the city of Phoenix.

This thesis investigates the feasibility of using recycled ceramics as the aggregate in concrete, as an alternative to natural rock aggregates. The study evaluates the mechanical properties of concrete made with recycled ceramics and compares them with those of traditional concrete. The research involved laboratory experiments to determine compressive strength and displacement. The results show that the concrete made with recycled ceramics exhibited higher compressive strength and lower maximum displacement than traditional concrete, which means it acted more brittle. However, when the recycled ceramics were used to replace only 50% of the rock aggregate, the compressive strength decreased while the maximum displacement stayed the same, though the study concludes that a larger sample size is needed for more reliable results. Based on the findings, the thesis concludes that while the use of recycled ceramics in concrete may not be suitable for structural concrete, it could still have potential as a sustainable building material in non-structural applications.

Innovative teaching methods must be studied and implemented to optimize student learning and prepare future generations for complex challenges. Dr. Keith Hjelmstad, a professor at Arizona State University, developed such an approach, “The Mechanics Project,” and has implemented it in foundational engineering mechanics courses. Although course instructors have used traditional “lecture and read” approaches for generations, the world is changing, requiring a modified policy. In this thesis, I research, discuss, and analyze the positive effects of The Mechanics Project for civil engineering students based on its fundamental principles.

Startups in the paper manufacturing are few & rare between. Agrix Paper takes a step towards innovating the traditional mass-scale paper making process & introduce non-wood fiber sourcing into the papermaking space. Using a hemp fiber-base, Agrix Paper hopes to develop a new paper manufacturing process that derives high-quality paper sourced from hemp & agricultural waste. Agrix Paper will reinvent the papermaking process for a more sustainable industry future.

This creative project outlines the steps taken to successfully plan and host a fundraising event at Arizona State University. In my case, this more specifically dealt with organizing a dodgeball tournament between two friendly rivals: police officers and firefighters in the city of Phoenix. All proceeds raised from this fundraising dodgeball tournament were donated back to first responders working in the city of Phoenix.

In 2021-2022, MLB underwent a labor stoppage due to a failure between the league and union to sign a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 2022 season until mid-March of 2022. This failure led to a contentious debate between owners and players over economic, competitive balance, and gameplay issues. To evaluate how MLB has reached this point in labor relations and make predictions for the future, it is first important to look at the history of sports and collective bargaining and, more specifically, this history in baseball. Next, one should evaluate the history of the antitrust exemption and its impact on labor relations in MLB. It is then important to analyze the main tenets of the 2022 CBA and their implications. Following this historical and current analysis, one can make hypotheses about where baseball labor relations and antitrust laws are heading and what will be key issues to look toward in the future.

The era of name, image, and likeness in college athletics is not even two years old, yet it is already raising numerous moral and regulatory concerns regarding the opportunities available to student-athletes. Given the NCAA’s outright commitment to fairness, as expressed in their mission statement, these regulatory and ethical dilemmas should not be possible. However, the reality of the first two years of NIL is the NCAA’s blatant disregard of their mission of fairness, and in order to create a lasting, sustainable NIL landscape, the NCAA must address these issues through policy change. This paper will introduce Name, Image, and Likeness, and explain how NIL evolved into something drastically different that what it intended to become. It will then explain eight of the most pervasive moral and regulatory issues that NIL has created and offer a two-pronged solution in the form of policy changes that will lead to more equitable and fair treatment of student-athletes within the NIL landscape.