Extreme heat is the deadliest weather and climate-related hazard in the United States, and the threat it poses to urban residents is rising. City planners increasingly recognize these risks and are taking action to mitigate them. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many plans. Building on a previous survey which queried city planners from across the United States about how concerned they were about extreme heat, and their heat management efforts. This thesis examines how these perceptions and efforts have changed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, it was found that public spaces which would typically have been used to shelter individuals from extreme heat conditions were closed to mitigate close-contact and to encourage social distancing. Furthermore, priorities were changed as the presence of the virus became commonplace, with plans being altered, delayed, or shelved to diverge more time and effort towards the crisis at hand. Working environments and conditions also changed, which in several cases led to technological shortcomings, resulting in further delays. Finally, most planners had attained a surface-level understanding of which socio-economic groups were most impacted by both COVID-19 and extreme heat, in congruence with the current literature written on the topic. Generally, it appears that planners feel that the impact of COVID-19 on heat planning efforts has been limited.

This paper will cover topics regarding remote work. More specifically, remote work for the field of logistics. It will also dive into remote work platforms themselves e.g., Slack, Zoom, etc. Microsoft Teams, the specific software we used while I was at my internship, will be analyzed as well. I will, specifically, be analyzing the fundamental issues that occurred during my internship, developing a feasible solution with a laid-out process for each one. After the proper execution of these processes, I will discuss my results. I found that time is the most critical component of an optimal transition to remote work. Finally, I will conclude with reflections on my findings, insights from current working supply chain professionals, and prompt further research that could be done.

In the current race for technological innovation, companies are striving to be the best and most prominent in the industry. A major way companies are setting themselves apart is through personalized experiences for their customers, so they have a huge incentive to collect consumer information. Consumers have limited knowledge of how much information companies collect and what goes on behind the scenes. Therefore, it is becoming extremely important to ensure companies are held accountable for upholding consumers’ right to privacy. One way this can be done is through the implementation of privacy legislation. The United States has not yet enacted federal preemptive privacy legislation, so this thesis examines the feasibility of enacting such legislation using the European Union’s GDPR as a model. California’s current state-level privacy law, the CCPA, is compared to the GDPR to determine the elements of a successful privacy law and find that the CCPA has many problems, most of which are solved by the GDPR. Because of this, it is concluded that it is necessary for the United States to adopt federal privacy legislation which would be most successful if the GDPR was used as a foundation.

For my thesis/creative project, I created a prototype for a mental health app. Each section of the prototype has a purpose of instilling mindfulness and healthy habits that can promote and lead to sustainable mental health. Throughout the paper I explain my reasoning for starting this project, the science of mindfulness and how it can bring about positive mental and physical changes, and the design theory behind the prototype.

For our project, we explored the growth of the ASU BioDesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL) from a standard university research lab to a COVID-19 testing facility through a business lens. The lab has pioneered the saliva-test in the Western United States. This thesis analyzes the laboratory from various business concepts and aspects. The business agility of the lab and it’s quickness to innovation has allowed the lab to enjoy great success. Looking into the future, the laboratory has a promising future and will need to answer many questions to remain the premier COVID-19 testing institution in Arizona.

As part of the Founders’ lab program, this thesis explores a social venture idea whose concept is to connect the philanthropic community with individuals and organizations in need of funding a project relating to (Sustainable Development Goals) SDG indicators through a peer-to-peer donation-based crowdfunding platform. Through this platform, the philanthropic community will have the possibility to easily access a wide range of projects to support as well as underserved individuals and communities seeking help, track their impact, donate in a complete transparent donation process, and automate donations through bank card round-ups. This social venture idea has been named PhilanthroGo.

As part of the Founders’ lab program, this thesis explores a social venture idea whose concept is to connect the philanthropic community with individuals and organizations in need of funding a project relating to (Sustainable Development Goals) SDG indicators through a peer to peer donation-based crowdfunding platform. Through this platform, the philanthropic community will have the possibility to easily access a wide range of projects to support as well as underserved individuals and communities seeking for help, track their impact, donate in a complete transparent donation process, and automate donations through bank card rounds-up. This social venture idea has been named PhilanthroGo.

The NCAA is changing the current rules and regulations around a student-athlete’s name, image, and likeness. Previously, student-athletes were not allowed to participate in business activities or noninstitutional promotional activities. With the new rule changes, student-athletes will be able to engage in business activities related to their own name, image, and likeness. The goal of the team was to help “prepare athletes to understand and properly navigate the evolving restrictions and guidelines around athlete name, image, and likeness”. In order to accomplish this, the team had to understand the problems student-athletes face with these changing rules and regulations. The team conducted basic market research to identify the problem. The problem discovered was the lack of communication between student-athletes and businesses. In order to verify this problem, the team conducted several interviews with Arizona State University Athletic Department personnel. From the interviews, the team identified that the user is the student-athletes and the buyer is the brands and businesses. Once the problem was verified and the user and buyer were identified, a solution that would best fit the customers was formulated. The solution is a platform that assists student-athletes navigate the changing rules of the NCAA by providing access to a marketplace optimized to working with student-athletes and offering an ease of maintaining relationships between student-athletes and businesses. The solution was validated through meetings with interested brands. The team used the business model and market potential to pitch the business idea to the brands. Finally, the team gained traction by initiating company partnerships.

Students from the Founder’s Lab at ASU created Equalitree, a company whose main focus is bringing together fans, student-athletes, coaches, and executive staff. In developing the company, the founders looked at various data points from the NCAA about what is already being done to increase diversity and inclusion. After finding staggering statistics about the state of diversity, the founders began to create ‘Equalitree’. A consulting agency tackling diversity and inclusion. The goal is to increase diversity and inclusion within sports organizations through a series of educational events, social campaigns, and dialogues. In researching the effectiveness of this business model, the founders hosted a week of events. The first event was a dialogue, in which attendees were presented with statistics of diversity within college sports, what is being done on college campuses to bridge gaps and open dialogues, and even held a discussion. For the second event, the founders hosted Keynote Speaker, former NFL player L.J. Shelton, to speak on his experiences within college sports and the NFL. Overall, Equalitree received highly rated reviews and feedback from attendees about the events and the effectiveness.

Water quality and accessibility can impact most aspects of life such as hygiene, medicine, thermal comfort, sewage disposal, and health, to name a few. Rising concerns related to the quality of drinking water in the United States caused by municipal water utility failures such as in Texas or in Michigan has led to an inquiry into the root cause of how a supply-chain for a basic necessity such as water can run into issues. After initial research and investigation, one hypothesis for this was the nature of how recyclable materials in a linear economy eventually run into production or storage problems as exhaustible resources (or space) become less accessible over time. To remedy this issue, LifeGear360 is introduced to allow individual users the liberty to treat their water directly if needed, while also remaining in a circular economy for the lifecycle of the product. As a backpack with water treatment capabilities, natural plant fibers are used to ensure a renewable cycle of production while also redefining the traditional “plastic-taste” characteristics many people associate with water pouches to a smoother, cleaner taste. Engineering, sustainability, and business and public service practice have been used in an interdisciplinary way to prepare this product for its intended use such as in school, for travel, and for the outdoors. According to the collected outreach, many indicated that they feel as though there is a need for a product that allows for the feeling of water security which can include carrying any personal belongings as well. Marketing strategies such as logo creating and online outreach continually influence product design, up until production would take place following the finalized design.