The dynamic between the center and periphery urban settings in El Salvador shows that the periphery lacks resources, while the center has an abundance. The resource differences can be seen in areas such as technology, education, and safety. The phenomenon of gender inequality is also ever-present; making it difficult for female youth in rural El Salvador to pursue a future outside of their communities. By identifying this social issue in El Salvador, Muchas Mas, a non-profit organization has created a hub for the rural female youth to get educational resources in the country’s capital of San Salvador. In coalition with Muchás Mas, the intent of this creative thesis project is to explore ways in which a social issue can affect the architectural design process. With the hope of exposing new conclusions about the design process, the goal is to show how architecture can work to improve a social issue.

In this paper, I analyze the reluctance of expanding nuclear power in the United States. This is done by exploring the history of nuclear power and using two conceptual theories to guide this analysis. The impact of nuclear accidents throughout history allows individuals to perceive risks as greater than they are while potentially ignoring the benefits of this energy method. By looking at the perception of risk through the Psychometric Theory of Risk, one can understand hesitance at a more individual level for perceived risk, knowledge, and trust. From there, one can look at more of a macro level with the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) to see what the psychometric paradigm may forget and view the ripple effects of media coverage and their effects on the perception of nuclear energy.

Climate change is impacting fisheries through ecological shifts altering the geographical distribution and quantity of fish species. About 60% of United States fish caught by volume is caught in the Alaska region, with Alaska's economy dependent on fisheries. Additionally, fisheries are an important source of employment for many Alaskan communities. Therefore, it is important to have policies and strategies in place to prepare for ongoing climate impacts. One step to support better tailoring policy to support those most likely to be negatively impacted is to identify the fishing communities most vulnerable to climate change. This study uses data on vulnerable fish species and fishery catch by species and community to identify what communities are most vulnerable to changing climate conditions. I identify 26 communities that are fishing climate vulnerable species. I then use vulnerable fish species revenue data to identify communities most at risk either because they generate a substantial amount of revenue from these species or a substantial proportion of their total revenue is derived from these species. Using species-specific revenue, I show that Sablefish contribute the most to this vulnerability.

Black-footed ferrets have become one of the most popular conservation success stories because of the miraculous rediscovery of the species after being declared extinct and the growing population today. The stability of the species is still highly variable as the ferrets are threatened by disease, habitat fragmentation, human infringement, and the extermination of their main prey item the prairie dog. The complexity of the issue arises from negative public perceptions of prairie dogs leading to less citizen support for protection which in turn undermines progress in black-footed ferret conservation. General issues with the bureaucracy of conservation helps to delay a formal protection of species at risk which would be especially important for species that are actively being removed or exterminated by humans like the prairie dog. Careful analysis of the black-footed ferret and the prairie dog through the lenses of their natural histories, conservation histories, and modern conservation methods suggest that the public’s opinion and support is the greatest tool for the protection of species at risk because of the complexity of conservation and the rallying bureaucratic motion.

Public and private lands depend on organizations to manage and protect them for the recreational enjoyment of humans and the conservation of biodiversity. Organizations that partner, or co-manage, to manage these lands can combine their resources to reach efficient conservation outcomes for biodiversity protection. How organizations express their priorities publicly through their mission statements are important because of their ability to reach stakeholders. In my thesis research, I collect the mission statements for 1144 organizations that are categorized into two groups of those that partner at least once and those that never partner. I analyze the extent to which they align and the drivers through performing text analysis by creating word clouds, word frequency lists, and identifying themes to categorize the words into for each group of partnering and non-partnering. Comparing partnering and non-partnering organization mission statements, I find that partnering organizations use more conservation-themed language and non-partnering organizations use community/people-themed language more frequently. I also find that the type of organization impacted the words being used, as well as the ratio of these different types of organizations that made up the total group of partnering and non-partnering (federal, local, and non-government organizations (NGO)). Future research could center around the dynamics of the partnerships and the extent to which mission statements play a role in attracting other organizations to partner and their role in clearly reflecting priorities to the public.

In the Southwestern United States, climate change poses challenges to reliable water access due to droughts, wildfires, and urban development. Arizonan farmers are faced with unpredictable precipitation, muddled legal water rights, and outdated equipment to irrigate their land. Located in Northern Arizona, Verde Valley residents and stakeholders are challenging the way the Verde River water is managed through collaboration, partnerships, and technical changes to water infrastructure. Through interviews conducted with various stakeholders involved in the Verde River ditch irrigation system, ranging from water users to nonprofit organizations, this paper identifies sociotechnical tinkering as an important aspect of maintaining agricultural operations along the river amid political tensions, social relations, and climate change. Through interviews and analysis, this paper further contributes to the relatively new discourse on the concept of sociotechnical tinkering by proving its existence and its subsequent effectiveness in the Verde Valley. Using statements made by respondents, the paper argues that sociotechnical tinkering helps manage resources through political and social relations.

This thesis utilizes GIS mapping to analyze the severity of four threats: ocean acidification, sea surface temperature, artisanal fishing, and destructive fishing, in conjunction with coral species distribution. This project produced maps that depicts each of these threats and shows the distribution of its severity. Compiling this data we can see that ocean acidification is the most pressing threat in the Caribbean to coral and that neither type of fishing really has a large effect. A species named Madracis carmabi is also flagged to be of particular concern as it is severely threatened by both ocean acidification and sea surface temperature.