Through Founders Lab, our group ideated an innovative new way for people to track their health and wellness. The app uses a 4-part circle system where users track their everyday progress in the following areas: diet, exercise, development, and mental wellness. Users can form 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. The app also hosts a variety of ways for users to be recognized for their healthy routine 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.

The Founder’s lab is a year-long program that gives 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 Barrett honors thesis project focuses on increasing the accessibility of health and wellness programs for small businesses and their employees through a customizable and easily implemented third party program that encourages employee retention.

The purpose of this thesis study was to market a favorable solution to reduce stress levels and improve the quality of sleep for young adults by using a piece of technology developed by NASA. This technology was a lighting system initially designed to help astronauts regulate their circadian rhythms in space, and our goal was to find a suitable market for this type of product. Our team wanted to focus on college students because they often suffer from high anxiety and stress levels, which affects their overall productiveness in study rooms and dorms. After conducting research and interviewing students on the ASU campus, we wanted to market a solution that incorporates the same technology, but is also able to adjust lighting intensity and color. Taking this solution, our group setup demonstration rooms in Noble Library to collect data from students who would be interested in seeing more of this product on campus. Additionally, a Facebook advertisement campaign was launched to promote our website and gain any other feedback. Ultimately, these two methods of outreach proved to be a huge success, and there was a significant amount of interest in this product, validating that there is a potential market.

The Founder’s lab is a year-long program that gives 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 Barrett honors thesis project focuses on increasing the accessibility of health and wellness programs for small businesses and their employees through a customizable and easily implemented third party program that encourages employee retention.

Transportation around campus on time is crucial for in-person college students looking to succeed in their studies. Unfortunately, inequities have arisen between the ability of able-bodied students to get to and from class and permanently or temporarily disabled students looking to do the same. ASU’s solution to this problem, the Disability Access and Resource Transportation (DART) service, does adequately address the needs of its targeted customers properly. Unfortunately, student surveys and anecdotal evidence from students’ lived experiences have demonstrated that DART often leaves students waiting for more than half an hour for a ride, causes students to miss class, and is altogether unreliable in today’s age where punctuality is key to success. Our goal in our thesis project was to create an equal on-campus transportation playing field for students with and without mobility issues so that a students’ ability to get around campus would never serve as a hindrance to his/her ability to, at a minimum, earn a degree; ideally empowering all students to thrive regardless of their personal circumstances.