Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, all states and territories within the United States have at least 20% obesity rates among adults, with the state of Arizona specifically being between 30-35% of adults (CDC, 2021). Being overweight and having obesity are linked to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers, as well as other chronic conditions (NIH, 2018). The high percentage is partly due to the work environment in society, which has become increasingly sedentary with the rise of labor-saving technologies, like computers for example. As a result, sedentary jobs have increased 83% since 1950 (American Heart Association, 2018). Our proposed solution to this problem of people not getting enough exercise is Bet Fitness. Bet Fitness is a mobile app that utilizes social and financial incentives to motivate users to consistently exercise. The quintessence of Bet Fitness is to bet money on your health. You first create a group with your friends or people you want to compete with. You then put in a specified amount of money into the betting pool. Users then have to exercise for a specified amount of days for a certain period of time (let’s say for instance, three times a week for a month). Workouts can be verified only by the other members of the group, where you can either send photos in a group chat, link your fitbit/other health data, or simply have another person vouch that you worked out as proof. Anyone who fails to keep up with the bet, loses their money that they put in and it gets equally distributed to the other members of the party. According to our initial survey, this idea has generated much interest among college students.

In arid environments such as Arizona, agricultural producers are burdened by constraints placed on them by inhospitable weather and limited access to water and fertile soil when attempting to grow produce. Farms in the arid Southwest often have to build greenhouses to overcome such constraints; however, such greenhouses may be relatively space, water, and pesticide intensive and often have demanding maintenance needs and overhead costs. In addition, many current agricultural practices exhaust land resources disparagingly, leading to irreversible environmental degradation. In an effort to improve agricultural production for those limited by weather and resource constraints while simultaneously increasing sustainability in land, resource and pesticide use, we have created Valleyponics, a hydroponic growth services company centered around creating a minimal farming footprint. The company uses a consultative services approach, leveraging NASA Veggie Growth System Technology to provide solutions to large businesses by automating their agricultural production processes and minimizing resource use year-round. Valleyponics aims to cultivate consultative partnerships which will allow our clients, their communities, and the environment to flourish.

In arid environments such as Arizona, agricultural producers are burdened by constraints placed on them by inhospitable weather and limited access to water and fertile soil when attempting to grow produce. Farms in the arid Southwest often have to build greenhouses to overcome such constraints; however, such greenhouses may be relatively space, water, and pesticide intensive and often have demanding maintenance needs and overhead costs. In addition, many current agricultural practices exhaust land resources disparagingly, leading to irreversible environmental degradation. In an effort to improve agricultural production for those limited by weather and resource constraints while simultaneously increasing sustainability in land, resource and pesticide use, we have created Valleyponics, a hydroponic growth services company centered around creating a minimal farming footprint. The company uses a consultative services approach, leveraging NASA Veggie Growth System Technology to provide solutions to large businesses by automating their agricultural production processes and minimizing resource use year-round. Valleyponics aims to cultivate consultative partnerships which will allow our clients, their communities, and the environment to flourish.