Through Founders Lab, our group designed an innovative new way for people to track their health and wellness. We created an app that uses a 4-part circle system where users track an everyday activity in the following areas: diet, exercise, development, and mental wellness. Users form small groups with friends and family members to provide support to one another. Through tracking their daily activities, users can earn tokens which are redeemable for relevant discounts with partnership brands. The app also hosts a variety of ways for users to be recognized for their healthy routines such as challenge trophies, activity history, and other social features. Overall, Circle Up aims to improve the daily routines of individuals to propel them into a healthier lifestyle, without the pressure of a curated social media feed.

New Leaf was founded with the mission to address the environmental, health, and sustainability consequences of paper production today. We explored the sourcing and foundations of paper needs, supporting our assumption that paper can be created from agricultural waste. We solidified a business plan using agricultural waste after considerable sourcing research and expert and consumerism input. We determined that using forest foliage that is a potential fire hazard from a national forest could be used as a source to make alternative paper as well as contribute to sustainability efforts.

Mitigation banks are a tool created to mitigate and compensate for negative impacts on the environment resulting from man made activities, especially damage caused to endangered wildlife, plants, and wetland ecosystems. The main objective of creating the system of mitigation banks is to achieve environmental equilibrium, meaning “No Net Loss” to all environmental functions. This means damage to one area is compensated for in another area of like-kind through restoration. There is great controversy surrounding this claim. There is a system of debits and credits to ensure ecological loss from development is preceded by restoration of a similar ecology and function. Wetland mitigation banks are the focus for the purpose of research. Background and benefits will be given first, followed by threats, issues, solutions and a personal experience with mitigation banks.

This thesis analyzes the relationship between diversity within U. S. boards of directors and overall firm performance. In the summer of 2020, various political and social movements erupted, fighting against police brutality and racial violence. These events were followed by an influx of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks across corporate America. It was becoming increasingly clear that diversity within company leadership was lacking. A company’s board of directors, who is responsible for creating value for shareholders, was not an accurate representation of the people it served. First, I will begin by discussing the current state of diversity in corporate boards by discussing reasons firms diversify, benefits and risks of a diverse board, and major barriers to diversification efforts. A main goal of directors is to maximize shareholder return, which prompts the question: is there a financial benefit to having directors of different backgrounds, skills, and perspectives? In the second part of my thesis, I explore the correlation of board compositions and the company’s financial performance through a study of 45 Fortune 500 companies. Previous studies have mixed results; some studies concluded that there is a positive correlation, some found a negative correlation, and others were inconclusive. While the results of my study did not demonstrate that a relationship between firm performance and diversity exists, I want to emphasize that it does not mean that diverse boards do not contribute at all to the success of the board. There are various factors that contributed to my results, but regardless of my findings, I believe that further research of this topic is necessary and will be beneficial for those in corporate governance.