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 - 10 of 22
Filtering by
- Creators: Kashiwagi, Dean
- Creators: O'Flaherty, Katherine
Description
This thesis project examines the likely factors that cause students to drop out of Barrett, the Honors College. Honors literature regarding retention and attrition suggests four areas encompassing individual student attributes and honors program characteristics which may impact a student's decision to stay or leave an Honors College. The primary question in focus is, "Why do students leave the Honors College?" followed by the tertiary questions of, "what can be done to mitigate this occurrence?" and, "how does this affect the quality of an honors education?" Assessing attrition can be broken down into biographical, cognitive-behavioral, socio-environmental, and institutional-instrumental components. Students who graduated with honors and those who did not graduate with honors were assessed on these four components through survey methods and qualitative interviews to investigate specific reasons why students leave the honors program. The results indicated a wide array of reasons impacting student attrition, the most significant being negative perceptions towards (1) honors courses and contracts, (2) difficulty completing a thesis project, and (3) finding little to no value in "graduating with honors." Each of these reasons reflect the institutional-instrumental component of student attrition, making it the most salient group of reasons why students leave the Honors College. The socio-environmental component also influences student attrition through peer influence and academic advisor support, though this was found to be within the context of institutional-instrumental means. This project offers solutions to ameliorate each of the four components of attrition by offering standardized honors contracts and more mandatory honors classes, mandatory thesis preparatory courses instead of workshops, and emphasizing the benefit Barrett gives to students as a whole. These solutions aim at increasing graduation rates for future honors students at Barrett as well as improving the overall quality of an honors education.
ContributorsSanchez, Gilbert Xavier (Author) / Parker, John (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This project created a tool for visualizing constructive solid geometry (CSG) using an HTC Vive virtual reality
headset. This tool provides functionality for surface triangulation
of a variety of three-dimensional primitive solids. Then with those
solids it can perform the core CSG operations—intersection,
union and complement—to create more complex objects. This
tool also parses in Silo data files to allow the visualization
of scientific models like the Annular Core Research Reactor.
This project is useful for both education and visualization. This
project will be used by scientists to visualize and understand
their simulation results, and used as a museum exhibit to engage
the next generation of scientists in computer modeling.
headset. This tool provides functionality for surface triangulation
of a variety of three-dimensional primitive solids. Then with those
solids it can perform the core CSG operations—intersection,
union and complement—to create more complex objects. This
tool also parses in Silo data files to allow the visualization
of scientific models like the Annular Core Research Reactor.
This project is useful for both education and visualization. This
project will be used by scientists to visualize and understand
their simulation results, and used as a museum exhibit to engage
the next generation of scientists in computer modeling.
ContributorsJones, Derek Matthew (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / O'Brien, Matthew (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Undergraduate on-campus residential education is a topic of significant inquiry within the field of higher education, and specifically student affairs. It has become commonplace for institutions of higher education in the United States to leverage the intersections between academics and residence life in order to promote student success by offering on-campus housing options that strategically place students in residential communities that provide additional connection to the students' academic experience, often by major, college, department, or other focus areas. Such models vary by institution, but are often referred to as living-learning communities or residential colleges, depending upon their structure and goals. For example, Barrett, the Honors College on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University implements a residential college model within its student housing; honors students live and study together, with the addition of three "special communities" designed for students majoring in Engineering, Business, or the Arts. This honors thesis case study describes and investigates the impact the visual and performing arts Barrett residential community has upon its residents in their first-year college experience. Through the lens of student development theory, this research focuses upon examining this specific residential community in detail in order to gain an understanding of its effect upon residents' academic and personal well being.
ContributorsBieschke, Sara Danielle (Author) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Thesis director) / Rendell, Dawn (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The construction industry is inefficient. Technological advancements alone do not provide a full solution. By simplifying the complexity of a construction project, and implementing the views of IMT (Information Measurement Theory) through a value driven system, the construction industry can be improved. In Bechtel's recent film, Dream Big: Engineering our World, the integration of their company values on emerging engineers resulted in astounding solutions towards making the future of the construction industry more efficient as a whole. This thesis demonstrates how Bechtel was able to direct the Dream Big movement with an emphasis on leadership and simpler thinking of future generations. Under the direction of Dr. Kashiwagi's Research and Solution Model (KSM) it is possible for young people aware of their potential and understand "simplicity" to be effective leaders. Through observation, these new leaders understand that they have been making a difference since their birth. As individuals are able to identify their core values, they are better able to find their strengths, align their values with a company, and ultimately make the construction industry more efficient.
ContributorsPirkl, Amber Victoria (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Del E. Webb Construction (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description"Writing the Races" is a documentary exploring how two writers talk about race in their comedy television shows. http://www.writingtheraces.com/
ContributorsTyau, Nicole Jenice (Author) / Rodriguez, Rick (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSBR) is a clinically standardized meditation process that has been shown to facilitate the treatment of a variety of mental and physical disorders. The known efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction is derived from research on participants who are defined as unhealthy in some form. The potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction for individuals who are considered to be healthy is under-studied, as less attention has gone into this subject area. Information Measurement Theory is a predictive theory that simplifies reality, and through this logical simplification, allows people to predict and see into the future. The concepts that are central to Information Measurement theory are natural laws, unique conditions, and relationships of unique conditions between the past, present, and future and the event model. This project aims to answer the question of if individuals, who are considered to be healthy, experience the same beneficiary results, that mindfulness-based stress reduction models execute, through the conception and knowledge of Information Measurement Theory. This study aims to compare MBSR and IMT in order to determine the consequences of each on the individual. The purpose of this study is also to highlight the promising success that Leadership Society of Arizona has achieved through the teaching of IMT in leadership courses.
ContributorsPirotte, Genevieve Katherine (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Exercising is becoming an important part of life, and yet not everybody is exercising regularly as they should. This project is focused on the exercising level of people in China and the United States therefore to determine the factors that prevent people from exercising. By extensive research and observations in the gyms of China and the United States, 6 major factors were determined and those are: Food, Education, Aesthetic/ Beauty standard, Gym membership fee, Government and control, and Work/ Society. The author found that with the extensive government control, people in China do not have full access to internet and therefore they do not have information about exercising. Education is should be refocused because government and school are not paying attention to students' health, students at school have excessive homework and assignment which prevent them from playing sports and exercising. Government of China should become more open-minded and open the access of internet instead of control. Both the United States and China should set more sports related classes, and reduce assignment and homework load. For China, more public infrastructure and facility should be built and open to the public who has less income can have access to exercise. Lastly promote healthy lifestyle, and bring knowledge to the general population such as healthy diet, and the dangers of being unhealthy.
ContributorsShao, Dongnan (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The purpose of this research paper is to examine the current state of Arizona's public K-12 education system and offer tangible solutions to improve it. An overview of the state's educational funding and performative rankings reveals a deeply disadvantaged system that especially disadvantages low income students. Arizona continually ranks in the bottom quartile in the nation for both K-12 performance and public education spending. By examining the best practices employed by some of the highest-ranking school systems in the world and reconfiguring them to fit Arizona, the state can significantly improve its national and international rankings. Research was conducted into four Scandinavian countries and four Southeast Asian countries selected based on 2016 K-12 Achievement Scores, Gross National Happiness Index, National 2016 Social Progress Index, and the 2016 Social Mobility Index as follows: Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and China (Hong Kong). After dissecting each countries' public school characteristics and funding formula, it was clear that each block of countries offered different solutions to the problems presented by Arizona's current educational climate. Namely increasing the efficacy of social welfare programs that directly impact low income students in K-12, improving statewide teacher certification standards, modeling the school year to be more like Southeast Asian countries to reduce summer learning loss, and facilitating an "educational culture" similar to that of Japan.
ContributorsBentley, Jackson Christopher (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Katherine, Clemens (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG) at Arizona State University has provided a new approach to improve efficiency within industry called Best Value (BV). The core idea of BV is simplicity, which trains people to improve efficiency and understand things better with minimum information provided. The tool developed based on BV, the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM), is widely tested and used across a variety of industries. It has successfully helped many companies to cut their costs and improve the efficiency when running the company. With the help of BV and KSM, the authors of this paper are able to identify some problems experienced by a number of international companies. With the growth of global economy, globalization becomes popular, many companies try to enter more markets in order to earn bigger profits. However, many companies fail at achieving same level of performance in foreign markets. The authors adopts the idea from BV, KSM as well as the concepts from the Information Measurement Theory (IMT), which tries to dissolve complicated questions to the simplest concepts, and are able to explain the core reason why many international companies face the dissatisfying performance abroad. With numerous research, IMT helps to identify the characteristics of companies doing well domestically as well as companies doing poorly abroad. This paper demonstrates the possible solutions in order to help companies expand globally and achieve success in different markets.
ContributorsYang, Di (Co-author) / Liu, Weikang (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The purpose for this thesis is to analyze the past trends of international business and use that information to make conclusions for future events. In this paper, I explore the international business landscape since World War II, examine the five main cultural clusters, explore four different international business strategies, and draw conclusions based on logic derived from Dr. Dean Kashiwagi's Information Measurement Theory. It is my goal to develop rational conclusions based on acquiring as much information as possible. Specifically, the concepts of the "Event" and dominant information were used to predict future outcomes. A best value approach towards international management and strategic leadership is also explored in order to provide a framework for proper management techniques. My conclusions revolve around two main predictions: in the next thirty years a new manufacturing hub will emerge outside of Asia and as the world continues to globalize, cultural differences will blur and more firms will adopt a global standardization strategy as discussed in the Starbuck's case later in the paper.
ContributorsMiles, Jeffrey Robert (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05