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.
The summer after my Junior year, I studied abroad in Denmark and was given the opportunity to create my own research topic. My interest in Sustainability has always revolved around food, so I started thinking about ways that I could incorporate this interest with the geographical backdrop of Århus, Denmark. Food is a medium for so many uniquely human creations: celebrations, art, connection, and taste. Food is also a big driver of climate change, as the meat and agriculture industries account for more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions. However, I wanted to research more than food. I wanted to incorporate balance; a balance of local and global food systems, a balance of individual and community relationships, and a balance of science and art. I wanted to show how food is a driving force in achieving global sustainability and resilience.
After much contemplation, I began researching the connections between local food and community wellbeing in the city. I interviewed farm-to-table chefs, local farmers, farmer’s market vendors, street food vendors, and consumers on their relationships with food. The topic itself was flexible and open-ended enough so that each interviewee could relate it to their lives in a unique way. I loved the research so much that I decided to continue interviewing stakeholders in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Through the continuation of my research in Arizona, I was able to include a comparative element that offered a better perspective on the matter. I found that the history of the country itself has a significant influence on people’s mindsets and actions surrounding food and the environment. The common theme I heard from all interviewees, however, was their confidence in the power of food to unite people to one another and to the natural world.
I chose to create this illustrated book because my research experience was a whole and inseparable experience; it could never be fully expressed in words. I wanted my project to be an intellectual and visual map of my journey, inspiring the reader to go on a journey of their own. Therefore, I partnered with an undergraduate art student at Arizona State University, Sofia Reyes, to help create my vision. I shared my experiences, photos, and stories with her so that she could create the beautiful watercolor paintings that make the book so visually appealing and accessible to all demographics. The images act as a way of engaging all of our human senses, initiating a stronger connection to the material presented.
Creating this project was my favorite experience as an undergraduate, and I feel fortunate to be able to tell the stories of those intimately tied to the local food system. I am in the process of entering my book in various competitions including Writer’s Digest, Reader’s Favorites, The Food Sustainability Media Award, and The Indie Book Awards. I am also going on to publish the book through a small publishing company.
This paper explores the question, "What if we extended to our own being the aspiration of well-being and flourishing that we strive for in our sustainability work?" I offer my findings as a reflective essay, lightly grounded in autoethnographic methods, that presents as a persuasive essay. The intention is to deliver an offering for a new (old) state of being.
The scope of this project is a combination of material science engineering and mechanical engineering. Overall, the main goal of this project is to develop a lightweight concrete that maintains its original strength profile. Initial research has shown that a plastic-concrete composite could create a more lightweight concrete than that made using the typical gravel aggregate for concrete, while still maintaining the physical strength that concrete is known for. This will be accomplished by varying the amount of plastic in the aggregate. If successful, this project would allow concrete to be used in applications it would typically not be suitable for.<br/>After testing the strength of the concrete specimens with varying fills of plastic aggregate it was determined that the control group experienced an average peak stress of 2089 psi, the 16.67% plastic group experienced an average peak stress of 2649 psi, the 33.3% plastic group experienced an average peak stress of 1852 psi, and the 50% plastic group experienced an average stress of 924.5 psi. The average time to reach the peak stress was found to be 12 minutes and 24 seconds in the control group, 15 minutes and 34 seconds in the 16.7% plastic group, 9 minutes and 45 seconds in the 33.3% plastic group, and 10 minutes and 58 seconds in the 50% plastic group. Taking the average of the normalized weights of the cylindrical samples it was determined that the control group weighed 14.773 oz/in, the 16.7% plastic group weighed 15 oz/in, the 33.3% plastic group weighed 14.573 oz/in, and the 50% plastic group weighed 12.959 oz/in. Based on these results it can be concluded that a small addition of plastic aggregate can be beneficial in creating a lighter, stronger concrete. The results show that a 16.7% fill ratio of plastic to rock aggregate can increase the failure time and the peak strength of a composite concrete. Overall, the experiment was successful in analyzing the effects of recycled plastic aggregate in composite concrete. <br/>Some possible future studies related to this subject material are adding aluminum to the concrete, having better molds, looking for the right consistency in each mixture, mixing for each mold individually, and performing other tests on the samples.
The scope of this project is a combination of material science engineering and<br/>mechanical engineering. Overall, the main goal of this project is to develop a lightweight<br/>concrete that maintains its original strength profile. Initial research has shown that a<br/>plastic-concrete composite could create a more lightweight concrete than that made using the<br/>typical gravel aggregate for concrete, while still maintaining the physical strength that concrete is<br/>known for. This will be accomplished by varying the amount of plastic in the aggregate. If<br/>successful, this project would allow concrete to be used in applications it would typically not be<br/>suitable for.<br/>After testing the strength of the concrete specimens with varying fills of plastic aggregate<br/>it was determined that the control group experienced an average peak stress of 2089 psi, the<br/>16.67% plastic group experienced an average peak stress of 2649 psi, the 33.3% plastic group<br/>experienced an average peak stress of 1852 psi, and the 50% plastic group experienced an<br/>average stress of 924.5 psi. The average time to reach the peak stress was found to be 12 minutes<br/>and 24 seconds in the control group, 15 minutes and 34 seconds in the 16.7% plastic group, 9<br/>minutes and 45 seconds in the 33.3% plastic group, and 10 minutes and 58 seconds in the 50%<br/>plastic group. Taking the average of the normalized weights of the cylindrical samples it was<br/>determined that the control group weighed 14.773 oz/in, the 16.7% plastic group weighed 15<br/>oz/in, the 33.3% plastic group weighed 14.573 oz/in, and the 50% plastic group weighed 12.959<br/>oz/in. Based on these results it can be concluded that a small addition of plastic aggregate can be<br/>beneficial in creating a lighter, stronger concrete. The results show that a 16.7% fill ratio of<br/>plastic to rock aggregate can increase the failure time and the peak strength of a composite<br/>concrete. Overall, the experiment was successful in analyzing the effects of recycled plastic<br/>aggregate in composite concrete.<br/>Some possible future studies related to this subject material are adding aluminum to the<br/>concrete, having better molds, looking for the right consistency in each mixture, mixing for each<br/>mold individually, and performing other tests on the samples.
The goal of this experiment was to examine the energy absorption properties of origami-inspired honeycomb and standard honeycomb structures. These structures were 3D printed with two different materials: thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Quasi-static compression testing was performed on these structures for both types and materials at various wall thicknesses. The energy absorption and other material properties were analyzed for each structure. Overall, the results indicate that origami-inspired structures perform best at energy absorption at a higher wall thickness with a rigid material. The results also indicated that standard honeycomb structures perform better with lower wall thickness, and also perform better with a rigid, rather than a flexible material. Additionally, it was observed that a flexible material, like TPU, better demonstrates the folding and recovery properties of origami-inspired structures. The results of this experiment have applications wherever honeycomb structures are used, mostly on aircraft and spacecraft. In vehicles with structures of a sufficiently high wall thickness with a rigid material, origami-inspired honeycomb structures could be used instead of current honeycomb structures in order to better protect the passengers or payload through improved energy absorption.