Esters are important solvents in multiple industries including adhesives, food, and pharmaceuticals. Although esters are biodegradable solvents, the conventional process of producing them is not eco-friendly because they are largely derived from petrochemicals. This has led scientists to consider implementing biological routes in their production process by incorporating heterologous or improving inherent esterification pathways. However, due to inequality in the biosynthesis of esters and their precursors (organic acid and alcohol), a significant amount of precursors are left unconverted, thereby lowering overall esterification efficiency. Therefore, the primary goal of the current research is to improve the ester titers by incorporating one more step of in vitro esterification with the culture broth, thereby esterifying the unconverted precursors using high efficiency commercial enzymes in the presence of compatible organic solvent. In principle, the medium containing the precursors will be treated with the enzyme in presence of organic solvent, where the precursors will be distributed in both the phases, aqueous and organic, based on their polarity, and the enzymatic esterification will happen at the interface. Hence, as a first step, efforts were made to optimize the reaction conditions, beginning with choosing the most efficient organic solvent and corresponding enzyme candidate. Our results showed that, for production of ethyl acetate through this reactive extraction approach, Novozyme435 exhibited significant esterification with chloroform, with almost 85% conversion efficiency. Further optimizations with phase ratios, pH and incubation time showed that the pH 6.0 (3.1 g/L) was the most optimum where ethyl acetate titer was found to improve 10 times than that at pH 7.0 (0.164 g/L) with the phase ratio of 1:1. The kinetic studies further added that the incubation at 37oC gives the maximum ethyl acetate production within 8h. After initial optimization studies, cell broth from E. coli cells transformed to overproduce an esterase was also tested with the reactive extraction method. It was found that there was a ~7.5X decrease in ethyl acetate production in the cell media versus synthetic samples with the same concentration of reactants. Such a large decrease indicates that enzymatic promiscuity or inhibition currently prevent the cell samples from reaching the same conversion as synthetic studies. To characterize the maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and affinity constants of the substrates to Novozym 435, further kinetic studies were performed with one minute of reaction. The mathematical model employed assumes that enzyme kinetics rather than diffusion was the rate limiting step, that the concentrations of reactants at the interface are equivalent to the initial concentration of reactants, and that neither substrate is an inhibitor. Vmax was found to be 18.5 Mmol min-1g-1 (of catalyst used), and the affinity constants were 0.957 M and 0.00557 M for acetic acid and ethanol respectively. Vmax was similar to literature values with Novozym 435, and the affinity constants indicate a much higher binding efficiency of ethanol in comparison to acetic acid, indicating that a cocktail of esters are likely produced from Novozym 435 in cell broth. Overall, moving away from fossil-fuel dependence is necessary to promote sustainable industry standards, and microbial cell factories combined with reactive extraction, if optimized for industrial applications, can replace harmful environmental procedures. By optimizing the reactive extraction process for ester production, biorefineries could become more competitive and economically feasible for numerous applications.

For my creative project/thesis, I gave a fully rehearsed, fully performed hour long recital using rare baseball music I researched, hunted down, studied, practiced, and then performed in a recital setting. I used my long history with and personal knowledge of Baseball, as well as my newly studied knowledge of and newly acquired skills with Musical Theater, Opera, and Voice to make a project that celebrated both my past achievements and what I learned with my performance degree these last 4 years. I, in total, learned 16 new songs and performed each of them back to back to back, with breaks in between each set and an intermission, as well as brief histories and summaries of each song or each song set. I then performed the recital on February 25th in the ASU School of Music Recital Hall, and invited as many friends, peers, colleagues, and family members as I could to attend, while also sharing the streaming and subsequent recording online as well. I was accompanied by pianist Stephen Kuebelbeck on piano, and the two of us spent hours upon hours rehearsing in addition to performing the recital itself. My thesis director, Carole FitzPatrick, helped me with all the vocal technique, song selection, memorization, recital approach, and planning out the logistics of my recital, while Dr. Kay Norton helped me with research such as song selection, history of the pieces, history of the composers, and historical context of the pieces. While this is an unconventional project, I feel like it best reflects my unconventional major. It gives me both advanced knowledge on a niche in my field of performance, provides me with rehearsed music that I love and can use and carry forward into most any concert or performance setting, and provides me with personal artistic satisfaction by combining together two worlds I dearly love and am a part of, in a creative way. It also gives me the irreplaceable experience of putting together my own recital (completely outside of class and on my own time), as recital performances will hopefully become a regular part of my life as a singing performer.

It is a fact of modern food processing that the majority of products contain one or multiple food additives. Yet, while these additives see great abundance of use, the average consumer has relatively little knowledge about them and, more often than not, a negative opinion of their inclusion. This piece explores the discrepancy between these two realities by delving into the origins, histories of use, health effects, and misconceptions that surround a number of modern food additives, exploring along the way the social changes and regulatory history that brought about the legal landscape of food safety in the United States. Ten author-developed recipes are included at the end to encourage not only a conceptual, but also a practical familiarity with these same food additives.

The main scope of this study was to analyze the impact support and identity have on the collegiate athletic career transition process. While student-athletes undergo a variety of transitions, this study focused on the career transition out of collegiate athletics regardless of their reason for leaving or their next steps. The motivation for conducting this research is to take the challenges and recommendations to the next steps and reform the common practice of career transition and provide assistance to athletes facing adversity in this position. A study on 32 voluntary student-athletes in different phases of the transition process ranging from current student-athletes to graduated student-athletes years detached from their sport was conducted via electronic questionnaire. Questions about demographics and their personal experiences relating to identity, support, and transition as a whole were asked regarding their time as student-athletes through their transition (if applicable). Through analyzing the responses and previous literature, it is evident that support is necessary from the early stages as a student-athlete through their transition out of the sport to minimize the negative impact. It is also apparent that one's athletic identity is established early on in their career and is difficult to dissociate from to rediscover a personal identity not connected to athletic performance. Knowing what we do now, there are limitations in the findings such as within the demographics, questionnaire, and clarity. This would be beneficial to research and study further to optimize a solution to assist in the athletic career transition process and alleviate additional barriers athletes face when no longer having their sport.

The Sonoran Desert in the Southwest region of the United States and the Northwest corner of Mexico is defined by low precipitation rates that are episodal, oscillating between years of higher yields than average and then below average levels. Water is essential for life and in the region, the lack of water proves an obstacle for people that must be faced to live and thrive there. Yet, millions of people live in this desert region and more people are moving currently. As current water resources are straining not only under increasing population but also with higher frequency and lengths of droughts in the region, water is becoming an important topic for future plans in the Sonoran Desert. However, a vast array of plants and animals have lived under these conditions by adapting to the low precipitation rates. By looking at the common flora and fauna of the region, humans may learn how to better live in the Sonoran Desert through biomimicry, the imitation of life. The natural design and processes of life in the Sonoran Desert can be studied to find ways to conserve, store and collect water for human consumption ensuring longevity within the region and beyond as water insecurity increases globally.

Poor medication adherence is a widespread healthcare issue that directly impacts the effectiveness of the medication and the overall health of the patient. Wellth is a smartphone application offered to users challenged with managing chronic conditions to improve medication adherence through daily reminders and monthly financial incentives to help members form healthy habits. The study examined the effects of financial incentives on the medication adherence of members according to their characteristics including their age, gender, and location of residence in addition to the health conditions they were battling during a 5-month Wellth program. In this study, adherence was defined as the percent of days the users checked in all their medications within a ±3-hour task window while timely adherence was when check-ins were submitted in a narrower window of ±1-hour. Wellth demonstrated both positive and negative relationships between specific patients and adherence. By comparing the findings with the existing literature, patterns were evaluated, and hypotheses were made. The severity of the member’s illness and vulnerability to consequences seemed to go be joint factors. The complexities of medication regimens, side effects, and symptoms associated with their health condition affected patient motivation. Economic factors including financial status, healthcare access, and level of knowledge could also be used as an explanation. This study is important because it helps develop and implement effective adherence programs for different kinds of patients by examining what type of patients for whom incentives work best using a mobile app. Essentially, this helps target features and design new programs for those who did not respond well to financial incentives.