This thesis/creative project involved writing a collection of creative nonfiction essays and building a website to reflect on my experiences traveling through Spain in the summer of 2023, for both a study abroad program and on my own. There are a total of nine essays in this current collection, along with a tenth introductory essay. They reflect the chronological order of my travels to Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, and Lisbon, concluding with an essay written about my return to Phoenix, Arizona. The goal of this project was to not only personally reflect on what I learned while in these various places, but also to share these experiences with a wider audience in the digital world. I plan to continue adding essays to this website, using it as a "living document" for my future travels, and as a place for further reflection.

This thesis addresses the opportunity for Psych for All to transform its intentions into impact throughout the Psychology Department, and later onto the greater Arizona State University campus and beyond. Psych for All is made up of both a faculty and student committee, with the student committee called Psych for All and the faculty committee being known as Excellence, Access, and Inclusion: Psych for All. The main focus will be on how the committee members’ ideas can transform into tangible initiatives, and how a more structured committee will produce greater results. This transformation will be analyzed using Bolman and Deal’s four frames as presented in their book, Reframing Organizations. The four frames consist of human resource, structural, political, and symbolic. The utilization of each frame will aid in the impact and organizational functioning of Psych for All. The solutions presented in this paper include improving the culture within the committee, shifting the management of funds, assigning clear tasks, and strengthening the relationship between the faculty and student committees. Each of these solutions reflects a different Bolman and Deal Frame, and they all aim to improve the Psych for All committees. Through the implementation of these solutions, Psych for All will be able to effectively operate as an organization and create powerful initiatives impacting the lives of students. This process has been extremely enriching, and I am excited to have been given the opportunity to help enrich an organization I care deeply for. It is my goal that this analysis will aid Psych for All in their future initiatives and impact.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is projected to increase, and understanding risk and protective factors could help mitigate this increase. Deficits in Choline, a B-like vitamin, intake or issues with endogenous choline production can lead to an increased risk for AD development. To better understand the effects of endogenous choline through the lifespan in the context of Alzheimer pathology, Male and Female 3xTg-AD and NonTg mice, were aged to 16.81 ± 0.13 months. Body weight, food consumption data, and blood plasma samples were collected across the lifespan. A behavioral battery, that consisted of Rotarod, Elevated Plus Maze, and Intellicage, was performed to assess differences across a range of tasks. Hippocampal and cortical tissue were collected to assess pathology. Overall, 3xTg-AD mice had lower choline levels than NonTg at multiple timepoints and Males had higher choline than Females. Furthermore, 3xTg-AD Females had higher levels of both Aβ and Tau pathology than their Male counterparts. In the Intellicage, Females made fewer Percent of Correct Responses during Place Preference. Together these findings show that choline levels through the lifespan, impact the severity of pathology between Males and Female 3xTg-AD mice and behavioral differences between the 3xTg-AD and NonTg mouse models.

Histology, the microscopic examination of tissues, is a pivotal tool in research. By providing a detailed view of cellular structures and their organization, this technique allows researchers to advance knowledge in many different disciplines including women’s health and ovarian studies. Studying the female reproductive system is of utmost importance due to its multifaceted effects on aspects such as biological functions, cellular mechanisms, and complex behavioral patterns in women. Therefore, the aim of this honors thesis is to refine and adapt a set of protocols from the Mayer-Dyer Laboratory for ovarian and follicular processing so that they are optimal to use in the Bimonte-Nelson Laboratory of Memory and Aging in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. The subsequent aim for the thesis is to replicate and extend the new protocols to complete histology of the ovaries from an interdisciplinary study that evaluated the consequences of hysterectomy with and without estrogen replacement for brain and cognition. This dual-pronged approach will not only contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the effects of hysterectomy, but also provides a valuable framework for future research endeavors in the field.

Puberty is a critical stage in the human life course. Specifically, puberty is the physiological transitionary period that marks the beginning of human reproduction capability. These physiological changes are markedly different in boys and girls and accordingly typically occur on different timelines. Furthermore, these timelines are not a set guideline for every child as some may develop earlier and others later. This age of onset is a general range that has been observed and considered to be the normal age of onset. The normal age of onset of puberty is typically between ages 8 and 13 for girls or 9 and 14 for boys (Brito & Latronico, 2015, 93). Any development seen before these ages is typically defined as early onset and development seen after is late development. Professionals have further defined different stages of puberty in both boys and girls. In girls, this involves breast development, body hair growth, changes in height and weight, and menarche (Wheeler, 1991, pg. 2). In boys, pubertal development often involves genital growth, body hair growth, deepening of voice, and growth spurts (6). Puberty onset has been a popular topic of study in the health sciences as the age of onset can indicate the impact of biological and environmental factors. In particular, inequality in research of pubertal onset, the effects of early/delayed onset, and race/ethnicity is of special interest. For instance, there is a lack of existing literature on the role that culture plays on pubertal onset in Latino youth. This analysis intends to investigate the relationship between the integration of Hispanic culture in children’s lives and pubertal onset.

InclusiTeach is a student-created website resource aiming to enrich diversity awareness across employee bases nationwide to ultimately create a more inclusive workplace. The application is presented to employers as a time-saver in creating their own DEI efforts with an easily distributable mode of training, while everyday consumers can reap the benefits of InclusiTeach for personal development or satisfying curiosity.

The body tilt illusion relates to one’s exaggerated perception of body tilt angle in comparison to reality. People tend to overestimate this illusion and feel that they are tilted at 45º when they are tilted less than 45º in reality. This illusion increases with lack of sensory cues and decreases when sensory cues are added. In the present study, distortion in the perception of body tilt was examined as a function of center of mass. There are gender differences in regards to where one’s center of mass lies on their body, with females having a lower center of mass on average compared to males (Elert, 2005). We used a human-sized 3D gyroscope to test participants’ experience of the body tilt illusion. The findings support that perception of body tilt is multisensory and that visual information as well as the tilting plane affects the magnitude of the illusion. This is consistent with the illusion being functional for helping people keep their balance. Yet, we did not find significant differences in the size of the illusion due to differences in center of mass. The pattern of findings supports that the body tilt illusion is relatively universal, and likely functional, but does not vary much due to individual body shape differences like center of mass.