Within the seafood industry, mislabeling is common. Some studies have found the mislabeling rate to be as high as 33%. One potential solution is to educate consumers about the issue so they can avoid mislabeled food. This project will find out how much consumers know about the issue and evaluate if education is an effective method for combating mislabeled seafood.
This project focuses on how social media is being used to empower women. Despite efforts to use social media platforms to promote social good, women and women’s rights issues are aggressively being shamed on social media in an attempt to shut these efforts down. This problem negatively impacts all women, because women are impacted by the effects of both systemic and specific sexism in their daily lives, and social media is a powerful tool that can be used to help solve (or worsen) issues like gender inequality. A possible cause of this problem is that there has not been a comprehensive study of how social media can best be optimized for users to promote gender equality and support feminism. Through survey-based research, this study will investigate how people use social media and how social media can be used effectively to promote social justice issues.
A Patent Assertion Entity (PAE), often more commonly known as a “patent troll,” is a company that acquires overly broad patents to try and make money by threatening small businesses with lawsuits and collecting settlements. This project will examine how PAEs have negatively impacted innovation, the creation of small businesses, the economy, and stalling the ability for small businesses to succeed. More specifically, the data collected will be used to identify ways to end the abusive practices of PAEs.
I am learning how to expand and grow my nonprofit, Robotics for All. The mission statement of Robotics for All is: “Robotics for All strives to educate students from disadvantaged communities in robotics and STEM to help them gain beneficial skills which will be useful throughout the rest of their academic and professional careers.” I currently teach at Mariano Castro Elementary School in Mountain View, CA, and I aim to expand to other locations. However, there is an upfront equipment cost (Lego Mindstorms EV3 sets and laptops) of about $1,500 for expansion to each school. This AAR project will focus on methods to fund my non-profit, including grants and fundraisers.
In a region full of big corporations and rapidly advancing ventures and technology, my project will take a look at the flip side: the small businesses and business owners in an area that is dominated by these big companies.
Despite efforts to improve our methods of analyzing the economy, we were unable to foresee the devastating crash of 2008. Traditional measures such as GDP fail to represent all aspects of the American economy. As a result, economists have researched the relationships between the economy’s stability and other variables, such as stock prices, banking development, and environmental conditions. I have taken this a step further, researching the viability of even more obscure variables, such as the price of fast food and the number men's t-shirt sales, as economic indicators.
Silicon Valley is a fiercely competitive market that large corporations and hopeful entrepreneurs flock to from all over the world. However, this has also led to an immense increase in the demand for land and building space. As a result, companies have begun to move into more residential areas, causing concern over gentrification. This project will study how well different companies integrate into the surrounding communities as they grow, and how they can provide better job opportunities for local residents.
Just two years ago, Teaspoon—a local Starbucks-like tea franchise with Asian influences—opened its very first store in Los Altos, CA. Now, it is one of the fastest growing companies in the Bay Area. With nine locations, twelve specialty drinks, and thousands of loyal customers, the demand for more effective digital marketing has increased greatly. Digital marketing is an essential part of any business's marketing plan, especially in today's digital revolution. As Teaspoon aims to make a name for itself in the highly competitive boba industry, I will help Teaspoon develop new digital marketing strategies.
There is an increasing demand for computer science workers who are proficient in coding. Recently, the average annual salary for computer science workers in Silicon Valley has been around $133,000, and the national average is has been around $113,000, according to Glassdoor's salary database. Several nonprofits have been organized to help provide a bridge for underrepresented communities to enter computer science. These nonprofits encourage members of underrepresented communities who have financial hardships to join and immerse themselves in program that can set them up for life at an early age through a career in computer science.
When you buy stock, you become a shareholder, which means you now own a "part" of the company. If the company's profits go up, you "share" in those profits. If the company starts doing well, you start earning money. However if a company starts to do badly, you can lose money. My project will examine how to invest into companies effectively by analyzing their growth and identifying and reducing risk. Investing in stocks can be a very risky business because it is very unpredictable, especially when outside global factors (2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, 9/11, etc.) occur. Determining tolerance to different kinds of risk is essential. Every investment involves some level of risk. Understanding the type of risk, or the combination of types of risk, is essential in reducing those risks. Two big factors that can help determine and reduce risk tolerance are net worth and risk capital. Net worth is investments minus liabilities. Risk capital is money that, if lost on an investment, won't impact the investor's base lifestyle.
