The Difference Engine at Arizona State University developed the Women’s Power and Influence Index (WPI) in order to combat the systemic inequality faced by women in the workplace. It aims to analyze data, such as Equal Employment Opportunity data, from various Fortune 500 companies to provide a measure of workplace inequality as well as encourage these institutions to adopt more equitable policies. By rating companies based on what truly matters to women, ASU’s Difference Engine hopes to help both women in existing career paths as well as women seeking a new career or position in companies. However, in order for the WPI to become a relevant scoring metric of gender equality within the workplace, we must raise awareness about the issue of gender equality and of the index itself. By raising awareness about gender inequality as well as inspiring companies to further equality within their workplaces, the WPI will serve to have an integral role in increasing gender equality in the workplace. Our approach for raising awareness utilizes two different strategies: (1) establishing a new version of the WPI website that is both informative and aesthetically pleasing and (2) generating social media content on TikTok that appeal to a variety of audiences and introduce them to the WPI and our mission.

This thesis project is part of the W.P. Carey Founders Lab, a collaborative entrepreneurship track that gives students the opportunity to create a start-up business based on a list of given problems or technologies. The technology selected utilized a piece of NASA technology (U.S. patent application 20200193857) that combines mixed, virtual, and augmented reality (MR, VR, and AR) with biofeedback metrics to help athletes get in the zone. The goal is to use the technology during practice so athletes can be better prepared to combat performance anxiety during high-pressure situations. The NASA patent states that if the user’s brain activity, sweat, or heartbeat indicate that they are stressed while completing the activity, the device will make it more difficult for the athlete to complete their task. ITZ’s device increases the difficulty of hitting a target with a ball by obscuring the vision with augmented reality graphics. The visual obstacles will subside if the user’s brain activity metrics indicate that they have become more calm or focused. Due to circumstances outside of the team's control, a prototype was unable to be obtained, and the idea was based on the patent and supporting documentation provided after a meeting with NASA.

Since the early 2010s, there seems to be a shift from the dominant Eurocentric beauty ideal to a new beauty standard that embodies more ethnic features, reflected in the growing number of women who want to enhance or adopt ethnic features through cosmetic procedures. As more white women adopt this new beauty standard, research into how perceptions of race are shifting is warranted and thus I explore the following question: What can we learn from white women who have undergone cosmetic procedures to appear less white and how are contemporary beauty standards changing perceptions of race?

The conflict between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces has been ongoing for over a year. In this conflict, many atrocities have been committed by the state, including massacres, torture, and mass sexual violence often directed against civilian Tigray. Because of this, many have wondered whether the Ethiopian state is committing genocide. In this study, I apply Gregory Stanton’s ten stages of genocide model to the Ethiopian state’s use of violence against civilian Tigray to argue that the Ethiopian government has and continues to commit genocide. Since the process of genocide is not linear, many reports, testimonies, and actions of the government support the argument that the Tigrayan people are victims of genocide.

With recent reports indicating that there is a relatively low number of pregnant people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States (~30% per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October, 2021), this study aims to understand the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the pregnant population in the state of Arizona. Using a mixed-methods approach, this cross-sectional study employs both semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 40) and a quantitative survey instrument (n = 400) to better understand the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among pregnant people, with data collected over the course of a few months. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression are employed to analyze the quantitative data and the semi-structured interviews are inductively coded to analyze themes across participant interviews. The results from this study are not only able to help better address disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations among pregnant people, but they also provide implications for vaccine hesitancy overall in order to develop interventions to address vaccine hesitancy. Future research is warranted to better understand regional differences in vaccine hesitancy and differences across populations.

Nursing burnout is a predominant issue for the modern nurse and must be more fully addressed for the health and success of the field and the individuals who make it up. Mindfulness exhibits efficacy in multiple studies as an intervention for burnout and should thus be considered as an option for treatment and prevention of this issue. The creation of the included mindfulness workbook allows nurses to assess and address their specific level of burnout in a cost-effective manner.