The contemporary world is motivated by data-driven decision-making. Small 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations are often limited in their reach due to their size, lack of funding, and a lack of data analysis expertise. In an effort to increase accessibility to data analysis for such organizations, a Founders Lab team designed a product to help them understand and utilize geographic information systems (GIS) software. This product – You Got GIS – strikes the balance between highly technical documentation and general overviews, benefiting 501(c)3 nonprofits in their pursuit of data-driven decision-making. Through the product’s use of case studies and methodologies, You Got GIS serves as a thought experiment platform to start answering questions regarding GIS. The product aims to continuously build partnerships in an effort to improve curriculum and user engagement.

Consider Steven Cryos’ words, “When disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed.” Witnessing domestic water insecurity in events such as Hurricane Katrina, the instability in Flint, Michigan, and most recently the winter storms affecting millions across Texas, we decided to take action. The period between a water supply’s disruption and restoration is filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and distress -- particularly since there is no clear indication of when, exactly, restoration comes. It is for this reason that Water Works now exists. As a team of students from diverse backgrounds, what started as an honors project with the Founders Lab at Arizona State University became the seed that will continue to mature into an economically sustainable business model supporting the optimistic visions and tenants of humanitarianism. By having conversations with community members, conducting market research, competing for funding and fostering progress amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our team’s problem-solving traverses the disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to educate our readers about a unique solution to emerging issues of water insecurity that are nested across and within systems who could benefit from the introduction of a personal water reclamation system, showcase our team’s entrepreneurial journey, and propose future directions that will this once pedagogical exercise to continue fulfilling its mission: To heal, to hydrate and to help bring safe water to everyone.

Since the beginning of his campaign in 2015, former President Donald Trump has enjoyed the support of a broad coalition of domestic, radical far-right groups and has himself peddled several conspiracy theories favored by these groups. Even prior to his campaign, Trump supported far-right conspiracies, evidenced by his strong support for birtherism, the belief that former President Obama was not a U.S. citizen or Christian. Instead of distancing himself and his administration from these groups, President Trump repeatedly refused to forcefully and continuously denounce these far-right extremists and consistently amplified both individuals ideologically associated with these groups and the groups themselves. This continual behavior by President Trump, coupled with his endorsement of election fraud theories after his loss in the 2020 election, culminated in an armed insurrection against the United States Government on January 6th 2021. The armed mob that stormed the Capitol, which was directly incited into violence by President Trump, consisted of a multitude of individuals, many of which belonged to different far-right extremist groups. Despite their aesthetic and strategic differences, these separate groups were united in their support of President Trump, who they viewed as a leader promoting their various causes. These groups were part of a movement that had attached itself to Donald Trump, one that Trump directly fostered through his rhetoric and actions. I believe that this Trump centered movement exhibits significant fascist elements and undertones. In order to make sense of these fascist elements, I will use of Robert O. Paxton’s historical analysis and account of fascism to contextualize and understand the ideology. I will examine the President’s role in creating this far-right movement and amplifying the messaging & profile of various the far-right groups that supported him, before arguing that Trump and his far-right movement possess many of the requisite qualifiers to be potentially be labeled as fascist under Paxton’s account. This examination will reveal the similarities between these far-right groups, painting a clearer picture as to why they participated in this movement and aligned themselves in support of Trump. Finally, I will examine the potential short and long term solutions to addressing or resolving the problems that have been left in the wake of the Trump presidency. How did different far-right extremist groups with varying ideologies form a politically mainstream coalition large enough to impact American electoral politics? I will argue that former President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, consistent refusal to strongly denounce far-right groups, and amplification of far-right individuals and ideas fostered an environment for these groups to thrive.

A significant sub-market within student affairs has been long ignored and broken: Student housing success. Research shows that strong relationships between students that live together are crucial to the well-being and academic success of that student. The problem is that universities have not figured out a standard way to group students effectively with some universities opting to market this inefficiency as a normal part of the college experience. For our thesis as a part of Founders Lab, we created our company, RiZing, to tackle this inefficiency. RiZing addresses the student-housing gap and proves that the lack of effective matching can be solved with the right people and of course, video games. Both students and higher education institutions are desperately trying to solve this problem. General event service vendors are racing just as quickly to serve this collegiate market and are extremely motivated to work with anyone who does. As the world today is becoming increasingly digitized, the founders of RiZing believe that the solution to building and maintaining strong connections with peers is possible through leveraging technology such as video games to create strong personal bonds.