This study aims to produce efficient and effective group writing workshops for students within the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. To balance two opposing theories in writing center pedagogy - the direct instruction theory and the student-led/ collaborative theory - this study also aims to determine whether a balanced combination of these approaches in writing workshops will increase student confidence in their writing abilities. Several writing workshops were held over Zoom utilizing a combination of direct teaching methods and collaborative techniques. Students were then surveyed to determine whether they found the workshops helpful, learned new skills, and/or grew more confident in their abilities. The student responses proved the hypothesis that a combined approach leads to an increase in student confidence.

Many would contend that the United States healthcare system should be moving towards a state of health equity. Here, every individual is not disadvantaged from achieving their true health potential. However, a variety of barriers currently exist that restrict individuals across the country from attaining equitable health outcomes; one of these is the social determinants of health (SDOH). The SDOH are non-medical factors that influence the health outcomes of an individual such as air pollution, food insecurity, and transportation accessibility. Each of these factors can influence the critical illnesses and health outcomes of individuals and, in turn, diminish the level of health equity in affected areas. Further, the SDOH have a strong correlation with lower levels of health outcomes such as life expectancy, physical health, and mental health. Despite having influenced the United States health care system for decades, the industry has only begun to address its influences within the past few years. Through exploration between the associations of the SDOH and health outcomes, programming and policy-making can begin to address the barrier to health equity that the SDOH create.

The incidence of childhood obesity has become increasingly prevalent in the United States in recent years. The development of obesity at any age, but especially in adolescence, can have lasting negative effects in the form of cardiometabolic disease, increased incurred healthcare costs, and potential negative effects on quality of life. In recent years, a rising trend of obesity, in both adults and adolescents, has been observed in lower income and ethnic groups. Increased adiposity can be influenced by modifiable factors -(physical activity, caloric intake, or sleep) or by non-modifiable factors (ethnicity, genetic predispositions, and socioeconomic status). The influence of these factors can be observed in individuals of all ages, including infants. A common indicator of the development of childhood obesity is rapid weight gain (RWG) within an infant’s first year of life. The composition of the gut microbiome can act as a predictor for RWG and the development of childhood obesity. Infants are exposed to an immense microbial load when they are born and their gut microbiome is continually diversified through their method of feeding and the subsequent introduction to solid foods. While currently understudied, it is understood that cultural and socioeconomic factors influence the development of the gut microbiome, which is further explored in this analysis. The DNA from 51 fecal samples from infants ranging from 3 weeks to 12 months in age was extracted and sequenced using next-generation sequencing, and the resulting sequences were analyzed using QIIME 2. Results from alpha-diversity and beta-diversity metrics showed significant differences in the gut microbiome of infants when comparing groups based on baby race/ethnicity, household income, and mom’s education. These findings suggest the importance of sociodemographic characteristics in shaping the gut microbiome and suggest the importance of future studies including diverse populations in gut microbiome work.