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 69
Description
Abstract "Empty Horizons": A Creative Writing Piece Max Harmon "Empty Horizons" is a creative writing piece composed of two different short stories sharing a common narrator. The first story "Can you dig it?" details a trip the narrator takes to South Dakota to go hunting shortly before starting college. On the trip the narrator contemplates certain aspects of his life and the events of the story serve as a vehicle to explore the narrator's mindset as an eighteen year old about to start a new phase in his life. The second story "Toads, Sharks and Beautiful Encounters with Uncertainty" takes place during the summer before the narrator begins his last semester in college as he attends the funeral of his recently deceased grandmother in Hawaii. During the trip to Hawaii, the narrator meets a girl his age and they are able to bond with each other over feelings of loss and uncertainty. In this story the narrator explores his feelings about life with college graduation on the horizon and comes to terms with some of the anxieties that have been plaguing him since the start of college. By detailing these two distinct and important time periods in the narrator's life the reader is able to gain a sense of understanding in regards to the narrator's own process of beginning life as an adult.
ContributorsHarmon, Max Doyle (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Drought is one of the most pressing issues affecting the future of the standard of living here in Phoenix. With the threat of water rationing and steep price hikes looming on the horizon for water customers in California, the desert southwest, and in drought-stricken communities worldwide, industrial designers are in a prime position to help improve the experience of water conservation so that consumers are willing to start taking conscious steps toward rethinking their relationship with water usage.
In a research group, several designers sought to understand the depth and complexity of this highly politicized issue by interviewing a wide variety of stakeholders, including sustainability experts, landscapers, water company executives, small business owners, reservoir forest rangers, and many more. Data synthesis led to the conclusion that residential water use is a lifestyle issue, and the only real way to conserve involves a significant shift in the collective idea of an “ideal” home—lawns, pools, and overwatered landscaping contribute to 70% of all water use by residences in the Phoenix area. The only real way to conserve involves increasing population density and creating communal green spaces.
DR. DISH is a dishwashing device that is meant to fit into the high-density living spaces that are rapidly being built in the face of the massive exodus of people into the world’s cities. To help busy apartment and condominium dwellers conserve water and time, DR. DISH converts a standard kitchen sink into a small dishwasher, which uses significantly less water than hand-washing dishes or rinsing dishes before putting them into a conventional dishwasher. Using advanced filtration technology and a powerful rinse cycle, a load dishes can be cleaned with about 2 gallons of water. Fully automating the dishwashing process also saves the user time and minimizes unpleasant contact with food residue and grease.
This device is meant to have a significant impact upon the water use of households that do not have a dishwasher, or simply do not use their dishwasher. With a low target price point and myriad convenient features, DR. DISH is a high-tech solution that promises water savings at a time when every effort toward conservation is absolutely critical. As we move toward a new era in determining water rights and imposing mandatory restrictions upon each and every person living in affected areas, creating conservation solutions that will be relevant for the lifestyles of the future is especially important, and the agility of designers in coming up with products that quickly cut consumer water consumption will be a key factor in determining whether humanity will be able to adapt to a new era in our relationship with natural resources.
In a research group, several designers sought to understand the depth and complexity of this highly politicized issue by interviewing a wide variety of stakeholders, including sustainability experts, landscapers, water company executives, small business owners, reservoir forest rangers, and many more. Data synthesis led to the conclusion that residential water use is a lifestyle issue, and the only real way to conserve involves a significant shift in the collective idea of an “ideal” home—lawns, pools, and overwatered landscaping contribute to 70% of all water use by residences in the Phoenix area. The only real way to conserve involves increasing population density and creating communal green spaces.
DR. DISH is a dishwashing device that is meant to fit into the high-density living spaces that are rapidly being built in the face of the massive exodus of people into the world’s cities. To help busy apartment and condominium dwellers conserve water and time, DR. DISH converts a standard kitchen sink into a small dishwasher, which uses significantly less water than hand-washing dishes or rinsing dishes before putting them into a conventional dishwasher. Using advanced filtration technology and a powerful rinse cycle, a load dishes can be cleaned with about 2 gallons of water. Fully automating the dishwashing process also saves the user time and minimizes unpleasant contact with food residue and grease.
This device is meant to have a significant impact upon the water use of households that do not have a dishwasher, or simply do not use their dishwasher. With a low target price point and myriad convenient features, DR. DISH is a high-tech solution that promises water savings at a time when every effort toward conservation is absolutely critical. As we move toward a new era in determining water rights and imposing mandatory restrictions upon each and every person living in affected areas, creating conservation solutions that will be relevant for the lifestyles of the future is especially important, and the agility of designers in coming up with products that quickly cut consumer water consumption will be a key factor in determining whether humanity will be able to adapt to a new era in our relationship with natural resources.
ContributorsMarcinkowski, Margaret Nicole (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Fire Shelter Foam Assist is meant as a firefighter's last effort of survival when a wildfire threatens their position. When deployed, it will cover the firefighter as the fire blows over. By reducing the time of deployment and simplifying the process, firefighters will have more time to ensure the area around them is cleared. The Fire Shelter Foam Assist has features that allow it to auto deploy around the firefighter through the use of fire foam retardant. The fire foam retardant inflates the shelter as well as provides an extra layer of protection against the wildfire.
ContributorsSmith, Tori Elizabeth (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
After researching pediatric cancer experiences, an opportunity emerged creating a less intimidating environment for children undergoing chemotherapy. By means of adding a creative component to their IV pole and disguising machinery, children will be a part of an Imagination Voyage adventure. Creative themes allow for a journey on a pirate ship, or being in a fantasy castle by captivating children in playtime. The design allows for a frightening experience to become a positive one.
ContributorsHerold, Brittany Ann (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
I set out to better understand the issues, perceptions & solutions surrounding drought. The question that compelled my project was "What might be all the ways that we can improve the experience of conserving, reusing & educating on the topic of water." Through the process of design research I developed a system of products that improves the user experiences surrounding water. The result is IOW, an intelligent 3-product system that aims to make your water needs & wants smarter & less wasteful.
ContributorsShappee, Christian Kyle (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Hearing loss is a serious condition that affects many adults and includes both age-related loss and non-age related loss (genetics, illness, or trauma). The focus of this thesis is on age related hearing loss. Almost half of people over the age of 75 have some degree of hearing loss, along with nearly a third of those between 65 and 74, and an eighth of 45-64 year olds. About 36 million American adults have hearing loss, and 44% of those report that their relationships have suffered as a result of hearing loss. This is a serious issue, which is why I've spent my senior year of college to create a product that improves the life of someone with hearing loss, such as my 90-year-old grandfather. The result of my labors is Suono, a product for those with hearing aids to better hear their loved ones, close friends, and others they care about.
ContributorsSauer, Grant Dimit (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / McDermott, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Based on paradigms in feminist theory and criticism, I conduct an analysis of two iconic works of twentieth century American feminist literature. Examining Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) by Rita Mae Brown, I assess their place within the canon of feminist literature--a canon traditionally thought of as Western. I cyclically explore how this canon parallels movements and institutions in actual feminism, and where the pitfalls in both can be traced. Due to the large span of time betwixt the two novels, I engage the historical progression American women experienced in the twentieth century and pair it with the progress feminist literature was likewise experiencing. Exploring the consequences of depicting women as people rather than male counterparts or others, I analyze the roles of the male gaze, male-less spaces, utopias, construction of female identity, motherhood, and how these culminate in feminine and sexual liberation. Utilizing philosophy from Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, I trace the origins of the male gaze and male-less spaces in literature and film and how women are essentially othered. I further employ the criticism of Adrienne Rich’s essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” to explore the roles of motherhood and heterosexual norms specifically. My findings deride the authors for their inability to construct legitimately liberated female protagonists. However, I simultaneously offer deference to the authors for engaging the tools and concepts they had available to them at the time in the interest of crafting powerful feminist narratives. I center on the claim that male-less spaces are difficult to fully as well accurately portray in literature, but the authors attempt to do so to move towards a liberation of women and should be lauded for the contributions they made.
ContributorsMazzarella, Annie Lisa (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Glover, Richard (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Paraprosdokian is a collection of stories about all different types of lives in Phoenix, AZ. There are several stories that work together, involving lonely teenagers at punk house shows, while the rest standalone: the eclectic interactions of a waiter at a 24-hour diner, a blind fair ride operator with a propensity for accidental murder, a hapless son of a clumsy dental assistant, a literary scholar stuck in an addiction to both Kafka and pornography, a kid who learns that writing is not a formula, and a high school death that nobody cares about. Some pieces unfold parts of 21st century culture that have been knotted in ambivalence, like how men raised on pornography reconcile with intimacy, while others are as simple as trying to encapsulate the experience of growing up in what is often perceived as an artless suburbia. The project aims at mixing prose with photography to create, as Ben Lerner describes it, “a constellation of language and image”—a complete artistic product. Using the work of a local Arizona photographer, the collection complicates a reader’s elementary notion of a “picture book” by forcing the reader to view photographs beyond exposition or symbolism. The title of the collection comes from a term used in comedic rhetoric that refers to a figure of speech in which the latter part of a statement or phrase reorients one’s understanding of the whole. Under this definition, the collection seeks to amend its author and reader’s orientation to Phoenix in a quest for empathy, giving pathetic characters a chance to speak without ever sacrificing a touch of humorous joy.
ContributorsFritz, Chandler Harrison (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Farmer, Steve (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Rebuilt is a project that looks to understand what Syrian refugees experience in camps, specifically Za'atari, the world's largest Syrian camp. The intent of Rebuilt was to create a product that would help their living conditions. By applying Design Thinking & Process, Rebuilt ultimately yielded a room partition system to help improve the living conditions of refugees. To design a product for a world most of the world is ignorant of, research is paramount. Research for Rebuilt involved gather many facts from various international databases, such as UNHCR and Mercy Corps. By understanding the demographics, the culture, and needs, Rebuilt was able to focus on some key points that lead to a potential design project: over half of the camp is consisted of adolescents (under age 18), and are living in small, essentially shipping-container homes, and the environment of the Jordanian desert where the camp is situated is extremely variable between freezing winters and blistering summers. Looking over the resources provided by humanitarian organizations, Rebuilt pinpointed a missing niche product that could help the living conditions of refugee's lives: a room partition system that could regulate ambient temperatures. The need for private space is important for the development of a refugee adolescent as it encourages stability and a sense of home. Ambient temperature is also vastly important for the productivity and health of anyone. Rebuilt is consisted of two main parts: the design of a bracket that could be used to accommodate the widths of multiple building materials and would be cheap to manufacture, and a pre-made panel that incorporated the use of phase-change-material technology. The design process is documented with a finalized design that should be low-cost and light-weight to ship from manufacturers to those in need.
ContributorsLee, Anna Jade (Author) / Shin, Dosun (Thesis director) / Bacalzo, Dean (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In Memory of an Emily is a piece of creative nonfiction and a short film that together detail the author’s experience with mental illness in the collegiate environment. In its 45 pages, Jackman begins to detail the realities of living with depression, anxiety, and anorexia nervosa. The piece includes five sections of writing, including a preface and four portions describing freshman to senior year. Each section endeavors to explore simplistic and purposefully cliché events common in young adult/collegiate life and juxtapose the banal nature of these events with the experience of the mentally ill. Her story endeavors to explore the emotional truths of pain and suffering, revealing that beneath her tender façade lies a very different existence, one tangled in eating disorders, panic attacks, and overwhelming sadness. While maintaining a story-like quality traditional to creative non-fiction, Jackman ventures to warn with a cautionary tale of pathologizing abnormality and exploring the long lasting effects of childhood trauma. Weaving careful storytelling into an exploration of the mentally ill mind, Jackman keeps the reader both terrifyingly close and far away, whispering painful secrets and then desperately running away with the truth. She speaks frankly of all aspects of life, ranging from far more mundane events, such as break ups and college rejection letters, to complicated issues, such as the suicide of her grandfather and her admission into an eating disorder facility. The author attempts to establish a balanced rapport with the reader, recognizing the need to maintain distance and elicit emotion simultaneously. Jackman writes In Memory of an Emily as a heartbreaking but authentic tale, playing with stream of consciousness and paralyzing emotional description. She opens the door and invites the reader into her mind so as to share in the physical and emotional discomfort of the storyteller, but then promptly slams the door once inside.
ContributorsJackman, Emily Deprey (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Barca, Lisa (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05