Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Report On The Ethical Use Of Ai For Participatory Planning, Sahana Kotha, Blythe Wilson

City and Regional Planning

This report provides an overview of key considerations for using artificial intelligence for community engagement in urban planning. As interest in AI adoption in the public sector increases, an understanding of ethical issues is needed to guide responsible AI implementation. Informed by a literature review and interviews with urban planning practitioners and academics, this report describes and analyzes different AI-supported community engagement methods, explores case studies, and outlines key concerns and opportunities for using AI. We recommend that AI use for community engagement prioritizes transparency, human oversight and accountability, intentional AI implementation, and community involvement.

Impact Of Composites Material Research On Underrepresented Communities, Neil Bedagkar

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The purpose of this research is to qualify and quantify the amount of research into composite materials applicable to certain engineering industries, then examine the impact these industries have on communities of a lower socioeconomic status. Of a random sample of papers from ScienceDirect over the last 24 years, it was found that the amount of research applicable to industries cascades as follows: the most is applicable to the construction industry, followed by automotive, defense, renewable energy, and biomedical. The effects of each industry have been examined and are presented as well.

Interprofessional Collaboration As A Feminist Pedagogy: A Call For The Unsettling Of Care In Health Professions Education, Ivana Guarrasi, Rhonda Cornell, Sally Clemenson

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Feminist Iterations Of “The Implosion”: New Techniques For Teaching About Science, Technology, And Society Through The “Implosion Project”, Maya Cruz

Feminist Pedagogy

This article outlines a new and explicitly feminist iteration of Professor Joseph Dumit’s (2014) “Implosion Project.” The “Implosion Project” is a classic pedagogical technique used widely in the field of Science and Technology Studies as an innovative way to teach students to critically engage with the complex relationships of science, technology, and society, and provides an important opportunity to center an explicitly feminist pedagogical approach when teaching students about the systems of power that shape, and are shaped by, the complex relationships between science, technology, and society. Since the “Implosion Project” does not center an explicitly feminist pedagogical approach, this …

Gps Accuracy Of Smartphones For Crowdsourcing Research, Derron L. Dike

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

ABSTRACT GPS Accuracy of Smartphones for Crowdsourcing Research Derron Dike Utilizing crowdsourcing with smartphones as a method for field data collection can contribute an array of data for scientific studies and land management applications. This study used crowdsourcing to examine smartphone built-in GPS performance for providing location-specific information with potential forestry applications. The usability of smartphones for GPS data collection in forestry studies or other practical applications is dependent on the level of accuracy required for those applications. A Smartphone Accuracy Trial was designed to test the GPS accuracy performance of current smartphones. Participants used the ArcGIS Field Maps application …

Feminist Pedagogy In The Stem Research Laboratory: An Intersectional Approach, Eduardo J. Caro-Diaz, Marie L. Matos-Hernández, Grayce E. Dyer, Siribeth Lopez-Santana, Laura S. Torres-Rivera, Lara G. Laureano-Llorens, Naiara Lebron-Acosta, Victoria M. Casimir-Montán

Feminist Pedagogy

The research laboratory is a crucial and indispensable classroom for STEM education. It is where we practice science as a craft and test the ideas that awaken our curiosity, allowing us to create knowledge. It is also a space where challenges await and struggles are imminent. Thus, supporting mentees through their traineeship in a research lab requires an intersectional approach and lens to provide equitable mentorship and guidance. The concept of intersectionality, initially devised by Black feminist professor Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, can be employed to generate practices and frameworks that democratize laboratory culture and provide trainees with a space in …

Lgbtq People Of Color And Digital Spaces Of Empowerment, Eden Bonjo

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In recent history, the internet has been considered a place where disembodied users can escape the limitations of their corporeal bodies. But in the contemporary moment, the digital and the physical worlds have become mutually constitutive. What happens when a politics of race, sexuality, and gender is centered in an analysis of digital activity? LGBTQ people of color use strategies to navigate marginalizing social dynamics of power both offline and online. This negotiation is important because of how integral the internet has become to everyday life. In the age of social media, cultural production has become the business of the …

Filters For Fiji: A Modified Cracker Box Biosand Filter For Rural Fiji, Geneva Newell, Cameron Lowrey, Thomas Burt, Lexie Caterine

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Water quality remains a major issue throughout rural Fiji, as current solutions rely on outside organizations providing money or technology. The goal of Filters for Fiji’s research was to develop a sustainable water filtration method for the people of rural Fiji, through ethnographic and biological research. In order to be sustainable, the filter had to be inexpensive (less than USD$15), simply built and maintained, and suitable for the end-user. The driving question of the research was: can a plastic, modified biosand filter be constructed from materials that could be sourced locally in rural Fijian communities? To answer this question, feedback …

An Exploration Into The Design Of A Portable Music Player For People With Alzheimer’S And Dementia, Jaxon V. Silva

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

An exploration into the design of a portable music player for people with Alzheimer's and dementia.

Ramble: Travel Journal Application Concept, Christine Elizabeth Curulla

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this project is to provide an easier and more engaging way for study abroad students to document their experiences. I wanted to collect data on the effectiveness of student journaling while abroad, and identify ways to improve the process through a mobile application.

Ramble is a social app I designed that provides a new question or prompt each day to encourage more frequent, fun journaling while traveling, and connection with others at home and abroad. Ramble solves problems that accompany traditional journaling by making the journaling process more accessible and requiring less time from the user.

Mapping The Suitability Of Cal Poly's Insulated Solar Electric Cookers (Isec) In Ghana, Togo, And Jamaica, Julia G. Kraatz

Social Sciences

The World Health Organization estimates that 3 billion people depend on biomass fuels for cooking, heating, and other day-to-day activities, which causes approximately 4.3 million people annually to die from illnesses attributable to indoor air pollution. The issue is especially pressing for women and children in developing countries, because women care for the home and are consequently responsible for attaining household fuels and cooking. In 2015, ISECs (Insulated Solar Electric Cookers) were developed at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, as a technology that utilizes solar electricity to directly cook food in a well-insulated chamber. They are capable of …

Suspicion Encoded: Women Of Color And Biometric Technology In The United States, Lilith A. Saylor

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper explores the commodification of privacy through biometric technology in the United States. It examines the impact of this technology on poor women of color (WOC), arguing that poor WOC face intersectional discrimination based on the convergence of sex, race, and class in their identities. I highlight the unique and powerful intrusion of biometric technology into the lives of poor WOC, and argue that the connection between data and the physical body created through biometric data has formed an environment in which the state wields unrestricted control in all spheres over the privacy of poor WOC.

How Governmental Greenhouse Gas Science Has Been Weathered Through Time And Why It Matters, Christopher Apple

STAR Program Research Presentations

Global consumption of materials and energy is accelerating. The rate of plant and animal species extinction is accelerating. On a finite Earth with a growing population, current consumption cannot continue sustainably. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) tell us an important part of this story. The Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, managed by scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, is the largest greenhouse gas analysis network in the world. It has been shaped by scientific questions, stagnant funding despite rises in research costs, and the task of understanding how the Earth system will respond to a changing climate. The Network began by …

Revalume: Configurable Employee Evaluations In The Cloud, Terrence Zone Li

Master's Theses

The software industry has seen a shift from annual to more frequent quarterly and even weekly employee reviews. As a result, there is a high demand for employee evaluations to be less costly and less time-consuming, while providing key insights for richer interactions between employees and their employers or managers. Tech com- panies are constantly looking for methods of producing high quality evaluations to prevent costly turnover. In an industry where software engineers are in high demand, tech companies face a challenging problem. Issues with employee evaluations typi- cally include the lack of performance transparency, unhelpful feedback, lack of metrics, …

Weights And Balances: Integrating Models For Prevention And Response To Southern California Offshore Oil Spills, Carmen Watts Clayton, Amoret Bunn

STAR Program Research Presentations

Licensing offshore oil and gas reserves in the United States waters are overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Enforcement (BSEE). The licensing application includes planning for any worst-case oil spill scenario between BSEE and the applicant based on lessons learned from historic offshore spills such as the Deepwater Horizon (2010), Exxon Valdez (1989), and the Union Oil Platform Blowout (1969). The process for planning to respond to oil spills involves coordination with multiple agencies, trustees, and stakeholders to ensure that oil spill responses consider multiple factors, including ecologically sensitive species, commercial transportation and fisheries, …

Understanding The Relationships Of User-Selected Music In Video Games, Memphis Wong

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Music has been an integral part of video games in its contribution to users' gameplay experiences. Varying from simple sound effects to elaborate scores, music helps shape the reactive environment of each video game. In particular, video games that generate unique levels and scenarios based on music has become more popular as its own genre. Games such as Audiosurf take this further, with having the game revolve entirely around levels generated to custom tracks. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of such games, when it allows a user to select his or her own music.

Conversion Of Greenhouse Gasses Into Energy, Sarah C. Rippe

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Comparing Components Of Flexography Printing For The Application Of Oxygen Barrier Inks On Films, Kasey Renee Reed

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study is to appraise typical components used in flexographic printing to provide more knowledge on the use of printing with functional inks on filmic substrates when printing packaged products inline. An oxygen barrier coating was applied using different plate-screening technologies and anilox rolls. Comparing two plate-screening technologies and three different anilox rolls using oxygen permeability tests helped to conclude the optimum plate and anilox roll solution that best apply the ink for proper functionality of the coating, with minimal ink application as to reduce waste.

Further knowledge of printing oxygen barrier coatings inline will yield results …

Groundwater Research In Middle Earth, Thomas Lapoint

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

My senior project focused on studying saltwater intrusion in a coastal town of New Zealand. I feel lucky that I was able to travel to such a distant place, conduct research that was insightful and interesting, and immerse myself in an international culture all in the name of my education. As a Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies student, I aim to analyze not only the cultural differences and similarities that the foreign environment offers to me but also the detailed, technical, engineering aspect of my research. I believe that my education should be approached with a well rounded perspective that …

Adolescent Use Of Social Networking Sites And Internet Safety, Mary Kate Whitcomb

Psychology and Child Development

The use of computers and the Internet continue to increase, especially by children and adolescents. Approximately 40% of adolescents access social networking sites in a typical day and spend on average 54 minutes on the sites (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). Social networking sites, such as Facebook, allow users to provide personal information, continually update information, post images, and communicate with friends. Due to an increase in availability, media has become greatly related to the socialization of adolescents. Identity formation is a major component of adolescence and social networking sites are a realm in which adolescents can explore and express …

Global Warming: Myths & Realities, Dennis Jaynes

Social Sciences

The topic of Global Warming has been surrounded with controversy since it was first proposed. From evidence that has come from years of studies, a majority of the world’s governments and scientists are in agreement that the Earth’s global temperatures are warming. However, there are others who are skeptical of the science; they spread their message by trying to discredit the scientists or have even gone as far as to cover it up. The intent of this paper is to examine the myths and compare them side by side with the latest scientific data to determine what is real and …

Sustainability In Packaging: A Study Of Trends, Ideas, And Perceptions Of Sustainability As It Relates To Packaging, Leslie Herrmann

Graphic Communication

The consumer packaging world has two key players, the consumer and the packaging manufacturer. And with the outside perspective of an expert on sustainability there creates the chemistry currently operating the sustainable packaging movement. But what does sustainability mean? The quick, dirty, and official definition is something which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (www.sustainability-ed.org).

This study focused on what the consumer perceived as being sustainable as well as tested some consumer knowledge of what sustainability is. This was then contrasted with what some award winning packaging manufacturers …