USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

David Trigaux

First Advisor

Thomas Smith Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science

Second Advisor

Dr. Ty Solomon, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science

Publisher

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Document Type

Thesis

Date Available

May 2012

Publication Date

2012

Date Issued

May 2012

Abstract

What do a solar panel, a smart bomb, and a baseball bat have in common? They all require rare earth elements to create/manufacture. The United States is widely considered the hegemon of the world. The American economy, which was previously hemorrhaging jobs, and is now growing anemically, is still larger, more balanced and more advanced than its competitors, especially given the transition to and integration of advanced technology. Its military prowess is unmatched by any two competing nations combined, and its quality of life for its citizens remains one of the highest in the world. Air planes, tanks, solar panels, plasma screen TVs, smart phones; all conceived and designed in the United States. The small problem rests with rare earth metals. This collection of minerals that nobody has ever heard of are critical to building most of the high tech gadgets, appliances, and machinery that makes the United States what it is today, and that increasingly look to shape the future economically and militarily.

Comments

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Honors Program, University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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