This 15-week long course is designed to introduce students, specifically in Arizona, to basic sustainability and conservation principles in the context of local reptile wildlife. Throughout the course, the students work on identifying the problem, creating visions for the desired future, and finally developing a strategy to help with reptile species survival in the valley. Research shows that animals in the classroom have led to improved academic success for students. Thus, through creating this course I was able to combine conservation and sustainability curriculum with real-life animals whose survival is directly being affected in the valley. My hope is that this course will help students identify a newfound passion and call to action to protect native wildlife. The more awareness and actionable knowledge which can be brought to students in Arizona about challenges to species survival the more likely we are to see a change in the future and a stronger sense of urgency for protecting wildlife. In order to accomplish these goals, the curriculum was developed to begin with basic concepts of species needs such as food and shelter and basic principles of sustainability. As the course progresses the students analyze current challenges reptile wildlife faces, like urban sprawl, and explore options to address these challenges. The course concludes with a pilot pitch where students present their solution projects to the school.

Universal Basic Income is a proposed policy where the government would regularly pay all citizens in cash. The idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) has had a resurgence in recent years because of popular figures like Andrew Yang and Elon Musk, but its history and potential implications go deep into the structure of human society. This thesis delves into how a basic income would transform social concepts of work and disrupt the personal economic model. With the bargaining power and freedom granted by a basic income, workers would find themselves in a position of work freedom and choice that has never existed in human history. With new freedom to do as they wish, the place of work in people’s lives needs to be reimagined as a source of fulfillment instead of an unlikeable but necessary part of everyday life. Workers will be given the choice to leave unfair or unfulfilling work and decide for themselves how they want to contribute within society. From increasing mental and economic well-being for most Americans to serving as a response to unemployment trends in the automated future, to encouraging greater business innovation, there are myriad ways in which basic incomes have the potential to benefit society. Framed by Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the only policy capable of abolishing poverty forever, Universal Basic income will be an important feature of transformative innovative policy advocacy until it is adopted by a major world government at which point the effects in practice will become clear.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in preventative measures and has led to extensive changes in lifestyle for the vast majority of the American population. As the pandemic progresses, a growing amount of evidence shows that minority groups, such as the Deaf community, are often disproportionately and uniquely affected. Deaf people are directly affected in their ability to personally socialize and continue with daily routines. More specifically, this can constitute their ability to meet new people, connect with friends/family, and to perform in their work or learning environment. It also may result in further mental health changes and an increased reliance on technology. The impact of COVID-19 on the Deaf community in clinical settings must also be considered. This includes changes in policies for in-person interpreters and a rise in telehealth. Often, these effects can be representative of the pre-existing low health literacy, frequency of miscommunication, poor treatment, and the inconvenience felt by Deaf people when trying to access healthcare. Ultimately, these effects on the Deaf community must be taken into account when attempting to create a full picture of the societal shift caused by COVID-19.

Globally, the incidental capture of non-target species in fisheries (bycatch) has been linked to declines of ecologically, economically, and culturally important marine species. Gillnet fisheries have especially high bycatch due to their non-selective nature, necessitating the development of new bycatch reduction technologies (BRTs). Net illumination is an emerging BRT that has shown promise in reducing bycatch of marine megafauna, including sea turtles, cetaceans, and seabirds. However, little research has been conducted to understand the effects of net illumination on fish assemblages, including bony fish and elasmobranchs (i.e. sharks, rays, and skates). Here, I assessed a 7-year dataset of paired net illumination trials using four different types of light (green LEDs, green chemical glowsticks, ultraviolet (UV) lights, and orange lights) to examine the effects of net illumination on fish catch and bycatch in a gillnet fishery at Baja California Sur, Mexico. Analysis revealed no significant effect on bony fish target catch or bycatch for any light type. There was a significant decrease in elasmobranch bycatch using UV and orange lights, with orange lights showing the most promise for decreasing elasmobranch bycatch, resulting in a 50% reduction in bycatch rates. Analysis of the effects of net illumination on elasmobranch target catch was limited due to insufficient data. These results indicate that the illumination of gillnets may offer a practical solution for reducing fish bycatch while maintaining target catch. More research should be conducted to understand the effects of net illumination in different fisheries, how net illumination affects fisher profit and efficiency, and how net illumination affects fish behavior. Further optimization of net illumination is also necessary before the technology can be recommended on a broader scale.

The Founders lab is a year-long program that gives its students an opportunity to participate in a unique team-based, experiential Barrett honors thesis project to design and apply marketing and sales strategies, as well as business and financial models to start up and launch a new business. This honors thesis project focuses on increasing the rate of vaccination outcomes in a country where people are increasingly busy (less time) and unwilling to get a needle through a new business venture that provides a service that brings vaccinations straight to businesses, making them available for their employees. Through our work with the Founders Lab, our team was able to create this pitch deck.

As climate change continues to escalate natural hazards around the globe, certain communities feel the impacts of these disasters more so than others. After Hurricane Maria devastated communities in 2017, Puerto Rico struggled to respond to the needs of its citizens, particularly those in rural areas. Many of the regions affected did not have resilient community structures in place to be able to withstand the systemic ripple effects of the hurricane. However, various community endeavors have developed post-Hurricane Maria to foster community collaboration and resiliency, including the development of agricultural tourism, otherwise known as agritourism. <br/>Although agritourism has begun to develop in rural regions of Puerto Rico, including the municipalities of Utuado, Ciales, Florida, and Jayuya, a systems-understanding is lacking of the current agritourism situation in the region and its related capacities, limitations, and opportunities of agritourism. To address this gap, a spatially explicit understanding and map of the underlying tourism infrastructure is needed to support the development of sustainable agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales, and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico. <br/>This report spatially represents the current state of tourism opportunities in the region as a result of asking “What are the spatial networks of gastronomy, accommodations, farms, and attractions that support the development of agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico?” Three steps lead to the spatial representation starting with developing a comprehensive inventory. Second, we visualize the spatial map through Google Maps. Lastly, we explore the larger context of the report through an ArcGIS Storymap. The inventory will help with better understanding the number and variety of tourism resources available. The spatial visualization will help with understanding the distribution of resources and explore potential connections between resources and what relationships could be fostered in the future. Lastly, the ArcGIS Storymap will serve as a framework for outlining the future development of the SARE project. Overall, this report outlines the spatial maps of tourism resources and provides a tool to be used by community partners, tourists, and project partners.

Food insecure populations suffer from the ability to access affordable and nutritious foods as a result of financial and transportation needs. Often these populations are concentrated in areas referenced as food deserts. A food desert is an area that does not have a supermarket or large grocery store within a mile and often is saturated with small non-traditional food stores and fast- food establishments. In this study, 21 food deserts along Grand Avenue in Downtown Phoenix were analyzed to better understand their access to food, population statistics and barriers to being food secure. The research question analyzed is the impact food insecurity has on communities in Phoenix, Arizona. The findings are presented in the form of a research paper, as well as 15 black and white film photographs accompanied by descriptions. There is primary qualitative data presented through photographs and observations, as well as secondary quantitative data analyzed from Census data. The food deserts studied consist of communities that are low-income and majority minority with little to no access to nutritious food in their area. The economics of food insecurity and grocery stores, racial discrimination, access to transportation, impacts on health and education and the sustainability of food deserts are all aspects of food insecurity discussed in the research. Possible solutions such as community gardens and subsidized grocery stores are also presented. The study revealed that food insecurity has several negative impacts on the affected populations and communities and disproportionately impacts low-income and minority communities.

Bioluminescent algae has long fascinated humans as a beautiful natural phenomenon. This creative project uses bioluminescent algae to push the limit of biomimicry, using the algae not as a model but as a technology. Through experimentation with algae samples and industrial design, two potential applications of bioluminescent algae as a sustainable lighting technology were generated. One design focuses on indoor, private lighting, while the other focuses on outdoor, public lighting. Both outcomes attempt to solve problems generated by nighttime lighting including light pollution, wasted electricity usage, and negative impacts on human and environmental health while retaining the benefits of safety and convenience.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a widespread health issue that affects approximately 1.7 million lives per year. The effects of TBI go past the incident of primary injury, as chronic damage can follow for years and cause irreversible neurodegeneration. A potential strategy for repair that has been studied is cell transplantation, as neural stem cells improve neurological function. While promising, neural stem cell transplantation presents challenges due to a relatively low survival rate post-implantation and issues with determining the optimal method of transplantation. Shear-thinning hydrogels are a type of hydrogel whose linkages break when under shear stress, exhibiting viscous flow, but reform and recover upon relaxation. Such properties allow them to be easily injected for minimally invasive delivery, while also shielding encapsulated cells from high shear forces, which would normally degrade the function and viability of such cells. As such, it is salient to research whether shear-thinning hydrogels are feasible candidates in neural cell transplantation applications for neuroregenerative medicine. In this honors thesis, shear-thinning hydrogels were formed through guest-host interactions of adamantane modified HA (guest ad-HA) and beta-cyclodextrin modified HA (host CD-HA). The purpose of the study was to characterize the injection force profile of different weight percentages of the HA shear-thinning hydrogel. The break force and average glide force were also compared between the differing weight percentages. By understanding the force exerted on the hydrogel when being injected, we could characterize how neural cells may respond to encapsulation and injection within HA shear-thinning hydrogels. We identified that 5% weight HA hydrogel required greater injection force than 4% weight HA hydrogel to be fully delivered. Such contexts are valuable, as this implies that higher weight percentage gels impart higher shear forces on encapsulated cells than lower weight gels. Further study is required to optimize our injection force system’s sensitivity and to investigate if cell encapsulation increases the force required for injection.