Background Synthetic Biology is a new field of research that applies engineering principals to biological constructs (Policy 2014). In essence, it boils biology down to its genetic building blocks and rebuilds brand new cells through robotics or a DNA printer (Policy 2014). While related to genetic engineering, synthetic biology extends the focus to entire systems of genes […]
Assessing the Impacts of Autonomous Technology in Agricultural Systems
Background For this project, autonomous technology, or artificial intelligence (AI), is described as “systems in which the designer has not predetermined the responses to every condition. Such systems are capable of surprising their designers and behaving in unexpected ways” (Omohundro 2014). This technology is attractive, especially in militaristic and economic contexts, because of the ability […]
Characterizing Success in AgTech StartUps
Background AgTech, an economic sector devoted to innovation in food and agriculture, has been around formally since biotechnology and seed genetics entered the market in the mid 90s, but only since 2013 has the sector seen rapid growth with new technology in big data, robotics, indoor agriculture, and more (Leclerc et al. 2015). This is reflected […]
Reflection From First Two Concentration Courses
Technologies of the Future This course has been by far one of the most interesting and exciting courses I have ever taken. Throughout the semester we learned through lectures, workshops, and lab work about leadership, design thinking, cultivating a growth mindset, and otherwise applying your skills for new technology creation. For my concentration, I learned […]
In Vitro Meat Case Study
In 1936, Winston Churchill wrote, “Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium” (Test-Tube 2007). At this time, synthesized meat was science fiction, hypothesized and capturing the public’s imagination, but far from a […]
Festival of Scholars and Senior Capstones
Festival of Scholars was a great experience as a presenter; I got to talk to people about projects I am really excited about and get their feedback on the variety of posters I presented. However, maybe even more interesting was talking to other students about their projects and theses that they are excited about. This […]
Golden Rice Case Study
Golden Rice is a famous example of the possible benefits of genetically modified organisms. It was originally engineered in 2000 in order to produce ß-carotene to combat vitamin A deficiency world-wide (Ye 2000). This was proposed as an interesting and unique solution to a problem that effects millions of people, mainly in impoverished countries in […]
Parallel Case Studies
Within the United States, different cities and communities obviously have different relationships with the second hand industry. But I am also curious to compare the second hand store industry existence and meaning in different parts of the globe and different cultures. Very brief, initial searching (using wikipedia and Google Trends) makes it seem to only be […]
Parallel Case Studies – Mika
Here is a selection of three existing sources that explore similar areas that we are interested for our own project: Shaukat, A.K., and Kamal, M.A. 2010. “Study of Visco-elastic Properties of Shoppers Waste for Its Reuse as Construction Material.” Construction and Building Materials 24 (8). 1340-351. We are looking at thrift stores as a way […]
Willapa Bay Research Project Outline
Top of Hourglass 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Justification for studying credibility of science Thomas S. Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, discusses the long standing linear notions of the scientific process. The scientific method was created by humans, and should be look at critically instead of as an absolute. Scientists are constantly trying to […]