2024 Senior Thesis Topics

Africana Studies

• Christian McDaniel, Breaking the Cycle of Black Male Gun Violence

American Studies

• Jack Bloom, Setting the Record Straight: Reimagining the Gay Best Friend in American Cinema

Anthropology

• Betsy Gale, Placemaking in the Anthropocene: The “Future” and the “Self” in the Climate Crisis Classroom
• Grace Goldberg, Girl Thesis: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Girlboss
• Henry Gooding, TikTok as a Trans Technology: Exploring Reactionary Transphobia and Trans Resiliency through Digital Ethnography
• Luis Lopez, The Weight of History: Nerviosismo and the Embodiment of Trauma in the Cuban-American Community
• Em Vasquez Mejia, Come out Here and Adult…Yeah, That’s Life, Working Everyday
• Sofia Riker, Education as a Conservative Cultural Project: Discourse Analysis of Prager U’s Representations of Black Men in American History
• Nate Wild, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Post-Affirmative Action Higher Education: Liberal Arts Colleges as Microcosms for DEI Efforts

Archaeology

• Matt Fiore, Insights from Petrographic Analysis: Interpreting Ceramic Production in Azerbaijan
• Kimmie Johnson, ‘Sherd’ is the word that you heard: Analyzing Medieval Islamic Ceramics from Azerbaijan
• Megan Mogauro, Animals and mortuary ritual in Bronze Age Bahrain: the mounds of Sar al-Jisr

Art

2024 Senior Art Thesis Show Website

[RE] VISION, on display from May 2 through May 18, 2024, at the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art.

Exhibiting seniors: Anna Arzeno, Dani Bernstein, Hanna Cillo, Celia Dorsey, Bethany Fell, Eliana Good, Freya Langenberg, Rachel Luxton, Eliza Pendergast, Gabriella Pia, Kathryn Sands, and Tate Suratt

Art History

• Celia Finn Dorsey, Off the Press: The Hatch Show Print Shop, the Legacy of Letterpress Posters, and the Nashville Country Music Scene
• Sae Gleba, Artful Animal Explorers: A Praxis for Digital Museum Education
• William Tomoki Ohmamiuda Haynes, Art of Negotiation: Kamisaka Sekka’s Momoyogusa and Modern Japanese National Identity (1897-1910)
• Miriam Silvia Lerner, Sickness & Sexiness: Examining Fertility in Early Modern Painted Female Bodies
• Margaret Mallavarapu, Reflections on Rhetoric vs. Reality of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms”
• Madeline Smith Pittel, La mort et les statues (1946): Revisualizing the Narrative of the Paris Occupation
• Katherine Rao, Adjusting the Focus on Silvia Saunders
• Zoë Nolan Reinert, Flipping Through Flair Magazine (1950): The Value of Material Aesthetics
• India Ames Reynolds, Uncovering the Cover Look: Reweighting the Cultural Scale Between LIFE and People Magazine

Asian Studies

• Sofia Bagdade, Polysemic Pieces: The Archive of Baghdadi Ketubot in Calcutta and Bombay

Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

• Naima Akter, Identification of potential outer kinetochore proteins Spc24, Spc25, and Nuf2 in Zea mays
• Natalie Beebe and Anastasia Passalaris, Enzymology of PaaA and PaaB in the Biosynthesis of Pantocin A
• Will Burns, Microscopy Assessment of Kinesin-Driven Acentromeric Plasmid Inheritance in Budding Yeast
• Kimberly Chase, Studies towards the cyclization of cardioactive peptides
• Audrey Choi, Uncovering the Novel Function of the TBhR Protein
• Maeve Eskandari, Investigating the Segregation Mechanism of Zea mays Ab10 Kinesin Proteins: Kindr and Trkin
• Mark Fakler, Role and Function of SwsB in bacterial peptidoglycan modification during the sporulation process
• Emily Hall, Characterization of the Microbial Community and Biochemical Processes in the Hanging Garden Biofilms of Fayetteville Green Lake
• Jason Jiang, Novel Radical Allylation Reactions using Biologically Active Compounds
• Zoe Katz, Investigation of phytic acid concentration in pearl millet
• Ashley Kolpan, Biochemical Characterization of CwlJ, a Germination-specific lytic transglycosylases
• Jungwon Lee, Relative contributions of chromatin state in cis-regulatory element activity
• Abby Smith and Nina Shaikh, Nucleotide Metabolism in T. thermophila: Identifying Transport Mechanism and Location

Biology

• Matt Arndt, Establishing the function of the novel TBHR protein
• Leah Basel, Effect of atrazine on corticosterone expression in Cuban treefrogs
• Anders Baum and Camille Martin, Defining and characterizing cryptic communities within Pacific coral reefs
• Campbell Berry, Chromatin accessibility in redundant and reused enhancers during Drosophila development
• Chloe Chiota, Investigating CENP-K and CENP-S as potential Zea mays kinetochore proteins using immunofluorescence
• Hanna Cillo, A leap into diversity: exploring variations in frog sperm across tropical habitats
• Sophie Crehan, Plant neighborhoods impact seedling growth in temperate forests
• Daniel Darras and Samantha Quackenbush, TBhR in the ovaries of Drosophila melanogaster
• Saleh Eltayeb and Simon Yan, The effect of seasonal habitat (subnivium) formation on rodent activity and size-dependent seed predation
• Maxwell Girard, The Frog Prince: examining the relationship between reproductive traits in male green frogs
• Jack Grant and Meghan Lane, Discovering the cryptic species diversity of Pacific coral reefs through genetic barcoding
• Emma Hunter and Harrison Smith, Using intronic regions as polymorphic sites to trace the lineage of Saunders' peonies
• Taliyah James, Examining the healthcare experiences and transitional stage of pediatric and young adult sickle cell patients
• Bailey Lillis and Olivia Chiota, Investigating the effect of pH on phenol oxidase activity in salt marsh soils
• Chiara Morley-McLaughlin, Eggjelly structure of the Green frog and American toad
• John Myles, Assessing the key driving factors of predator composition in a high-Arctic ecosystem
• Alessandra Priante, Habitat and seasonality influence rodent predation risk and foraging behavior
• Barbara Roca, False springs followed by freezing temperatures prevent and delay tree seed germination
• Ellie Sangree, Examining nutrient removal by intermittent draining biofilter in high-BOD nutrient-polluted water
• Oliver Tennant, The ecology of archaea in Fayetteville Green Lake
• Sandy Thai, α-Mangostin alleviates systemic lupus erythematosus pathology by initiation of apoptosis in pathogenic leukocytes
• Pyu Pyu Win, Investigation of Zea mays AB10 Kindr and Knob180 interactions in budding yeast
• Gabriella Zegarelli, The effects of lead on chromatin accessibility and gene expression during Drosophila oogenesis
• Michelle Zheng, Assessing Cremophor EL as a solvent alternative
• Clara Zhou de Magalhaes and Sara Schneidman, Assessing gene flow of freshwater crustaceans among turloughs (seasonal lakes) in Ireland

Chemistry

• John Frank, 2-Chloro-N-(1-ethoxyvinyl)pyridinium triflate as an electrophile in transition metal-free SNAr reactions with electron-rich aromatic compounds
• Min Yu Huang, Analysis of Different norbornene derivative electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction
• Annie Kennedy, Investigation of Amine Polymer Supports of CoPc Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction
• Jorge Perez-Vazquez, Covalent Immobilization of Bipyridine-based Rhenium Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction
• Will Profy, Photoredox-Catalyzed Radical Vinylation
• Alex Szyperek, (Even More) Progress Towards the Total Synthesis of Melokhanine A

Chinese

• Anya Acharya, How Do Chinese International Students at Hamilton View Cross-Strait Relations?
• Henry Kuck, Express Delivery: China’s Shipping Logistics and Food Delivery Infrastructure
• Regina Lin, Usage of Apology Words in Chinese
• Ethan Plous, China’s Semiconductor Industry: Past and Future
• Benjamin Sherman, Hong Xiuquan and His Understanding of Christianity

Cinema and Media Studies

• Justin Hern, “I Don't Like Myself Sometimes”: The Subversive Nature of Punch-Drunk Love
• Nick Kern, Back to my Thesis! Time Travel in Film
• Riley Manion and Sabrina Martinez, Incels and Femcels and Fight Clubs Oh My!
• Hollis Mann, Rubberneckers: Dissecting America’s Morbidly Curious Media Landscape via Natural Born Killers
• Jonathan Pietrafesa, “The YouTube Ken Burns”: Jon Bois and the New Wave of Sports Documentary
• Oliver Stevens, The Rehearsal: Nathan Fielder’s Reality-Bending Anxious Nightmare

Honors projects

• Sabrina Martinez, a creative exploration of translanguaging, The Eye of the Camera (El ojo de la cámara)
• Riley Manion, short film, 3:27
• Oliver Stevens, feature film, This Is Not a Film

Classics

Classical Languages

• Eileen Cohn, Misogyny, Broicism, and the “Natural Order”: Women and Stoicism

Classical Studies

• Dana Goettler, One Hundred and Forty-Five Vowels: Greek Typographical Innovations of the Fifteenth Century
• Maeve Harrington, The Hidden Enemy: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Ancient Greek Society
• Helen Higgins, Isis and Dionysus: A Cult Comparison
• Megan Mogauro, Fear of the Dead: Phasmophobia in Classical Greece
• Maddie Mulligan, Monomythic
• Maggie Nye, (A)Moral Death: Honor, Shame, and Self-Killing in Classical Greece
• Julia Sinatra, Female Revenge and the Myth of Atalanta
• Elliot Zamudio, The Ultimate Fanclub: Early Christianity as a Religion of Imitators

Computer Science

Genetic Programming Projects

• Alexander Axton, Quantum GP: Solving the Permutation Function Max Problem
• Ekaterina Bondarenko ’25, Elo-Scoring Inheritance: Evolving Optimal Tic Tac Toe Gameplay using Genetic Programming
• James Frazier, SDPush: A Stack-based Genetic Programming Framework for Determining Robustness of Software Defined Perimeters
• Anthony Hevia, Injective Variation Operators and Semantics Lexicase To Solve Boolean Problems
• Tommy Kantaros, Using Genetic Programming and Lexicase Selection to Solve the Longest Substring Problem
• Pius Lo, Using Genetic Programming with Modified Down-Sampled Lexicase Selection to Solve the Largest Subarray Problem
• Matthew Maillet, Migration and Evolution of Unique Island Models
• Chriss Morse, Applying Genetic Programming to Market Data
• Samantha Reisner, Using Genetic Programming with Alternate Tournament Selection to Solve Maximal Clique Problem
• Graham Stuard, Can Machines Learn to Draw? Testing Image Generation Instructions in Genetic Programming
• John Wilson, Finding Checkmate with Chunk Operators in Genetic Programming

Projects with Clients

• Jameson Andrews, Andrew Coleman, and Yassine Dhouib, Semi-Automated Processing of Camera Trap Images
• Noah Bridgeman, Grace Brophy, Leah Croke, and Kate Grissmer, Creating and Administering In-Class Team-Based Learning Activities
• Claire Cutler, Emily Weinstein, and Sebastian Favela, Improving Operations: A Database Solution for Kirkland Art Center
• Nate Field, Summer McClintic, and Logan Tonra, Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis for Study Abroad Programs
• James Gallagher, Michael Scoleri, and Violet Shi, Portable and Open Software for Stream Temperature Modeling
• Anna Grace, Divyam Karuri ’25, and Zoe Carovano, Batch Transcription for The Oneida County History Center
• Colin Howe, Kai Haesslein, and Will Burstein, Uptown Theatre: Creating a Check-In Web-App with CMS and Analytics using Firebase and React
• Charlotte Whiting, Madison Monroe, and Sydney Tran, 911 Call Analytics for the Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps

Dance and Movement Studies

• Sophie Antone, Sonder
• Maggie Masselli, Visualizations of Music
• Fiona Morrison, orbital us
• Hannah Singer, The Score

Data Science

• Katerina Dunleavy, A study of political activism of voters in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election
• Sean Kondracki, A study on non-voters in the past two presidential elections (2012 and 2016)

Economics

Honors presentations

• Jameson Andrews, Filling the Stands: Exploring the Relationship Between Team Performance and Fan Attendance in Professional Soccer
• Gracie Callanan, The Effects Of Competition On Commercial Banking: Evidence From The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking Act Of 1994
• Ethan del Rosario, Vanishing Predictive Power? The Yield Curve Amongst Other Macro Indicators to Estimate Real GDP Growth
• Jake Durando, The Effects of Historical Preservation on Residential Landmarks in New York City
• Grace Fuss, The Effect of Campaign Finance Reform: Evidence from the BCRA (2002)
• Daniel Goldstein, Unpacking Need-Blind Admissions: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions in Higher Education Access
• Carter Hampson, The Impact of the Smart Grid on Electricity Demand Shocks in Heatwaves
• Josue Herrera Rivera, Green Foreign Direct Investment: A Catalyst for Growth in Latin America
• Zhou (Brian) Hu, How do exchange rate fluctuations influence the investment decisions of multinational corporations? The case of primary sector activities in commodity-exporting countries
• John (Jack) Jee, Portfolio Allocation: Investigating the Influence of Macroeconomic Factors on Stock-Bond Relationships
• Richard Kanders, Integration of 19th Century Wheat Markets
• Annie Kennedy, The effect of emerging biomass power plants on environmental, economic, health, and political outcomes of Virginia counties between 2005-2019
• Henry Kuck, Effects of Income Taxation on Country-Level Subjective Well-Being
• Xiang (Athenia) Li, How do macroeconomic conditions affect FDI’s effect on economic growth?
• Quinn McGrath, Austerity Policies and the Great Recession: an Analysis of Government Expenditure Cuts in Great Britain and Their Effects on Welfare
• Tori Morelli, The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on the Mental Health of Low Income Adults
• Chrisstopher (Chriss) Morse, Using Stock Multiples as an Investment Strategy
• Johnny Oblak, The Impact of Early Investment on Startup Survival
• Kylie Oblak, The Impact of the South African Old Person's Grant on Hypertension of the Elderly
• Ryan Swanson, Ideology vs. Incentives: The Causes of Anti-Automation Riots in 1830s England
• Luca Turndorf, Investigating the effect of higher Energy Prices on Investment in Energy Efficiency?
• Tao Xie, The Impact of Trade on Chinese Regional TFP Growth
• Lianglangtian (Daniel) Zhang, The Differential Sectoral Effect of Monetary Policy: The Case of The Aerospace and Transportation Sector
• Luna Zhou, The Impact of Parental Discipline Method on Adults’ Behavior of Heavy Drinking, Using Marijuana, Smoking Tobacco, Adults’ Mental Health, and General Health Status

Environmental Studies

Capstone presentations

Opposition to Renewable Energy Projects

• Brandon Navarro, Public Engagement Solutions to Improve Relationships Between Communities and Developers in Solar Energy Siting
• Rebecca Toomey, Place-Attachment and Procedural Justice: Examining Local Resistance to Renewable Energy Projects in Rural Upstate New York
• Sara Wheatley, Equity in Solar Siting: A Spatial and Demographic Analysis in New York State
• Yunhai “Oliver” Zhao, Perspectives on Renewable Energy Projects in Rural Upstate New York: The Way Forward

Minding Mining: The Multiplicity of Minerals in the Just Energy Transition

• Sarah Ahrens, Unjust Transitions: Child Labor in the Cobalt Mining Behind a Carbon-Free World
• Grace Cooper, Unsteady Ground: How the Exploitation of Land Drives the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Artisanal Mining Industry
• Max Murphy, Cobalt, Conflict and Corporations: Connecting Artisanal Mining to Big Tech
• Natalia Peters-Domenech, Cultivating Responsible Lithium Mining; Creating a Critical Mineral Trademark for Consumer Awareness and Corporate Accountability

Conceptions of Justice in the Energy Transition

• America Grafton, Queering the Just Energy Transition: Expanding Our Perspective and Approach to the Climate Crisis
• Olivia Otsuka, A Just Energy Transition of the Music Touring Industry: Decarbonization of Practices and Amplification of Environmental Justice and Action
• Katie Rockford, Justice in Corporate Sustainability Reports: Corporate Implementations of The Just Energy Transition
• Lupe Vilaubi, Industrial Energy Farming: Renewables and Rurality in Conflict

The Future Social Implications of the Just Energy Transition

• Mya Burns, Shining a Light: Landlords’ Perspectives on Solar Energy
• Jackson Johns, Carbon Capture and Sequestration in New York State: The Social Implications and Barriers of CO2 Fracking as Part of the Just Energy Transition
• Alaina McKeen, Understanding Electric Vehicle Owners’ Perspectives on Electric Vehicles in Upstate New York
• Betsy Overstrum, The Influence of Interdisciplinary Renewable Energy Lessons on Student Understanding, Beliefs, and Action: A look at the Efficacy of In-Classroom Environmental Education

Thesis research

• Lia Cagnetta, Climate Adaptation through Voluntary Buyouts along Sauquoit Creek, New York: Examining Barriers to Implementation and Community Impacts
• Maddie Culcasi, A Balancing Act on Shifting Sands: Dynamics and Effectiveness of the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund’s Public-Private Partnered Geotube Project on Nantucket Island
• Julian Jacobs, Novel In-Situ Sensors Find Supersaturated pCO₂ and Landscape-Scale Controls of CO₂ Flux in Paired Small Freshwater Bodies
• Alec Jansujwicz, Outdoor Recreation as a Community Resource in the Adirondack Park Region
• Fiona Morrison, Leave No Trace: Non-Dominant Educator Perspectives and Reframing Human-Environment Interaction
• Henry Pomerance, Investigating the Determinants of Texas’ Wind Power Prominence
• Ellie Sangree, Nitrogen Removal by Coupled Nitrification-Denitrification in Novel Intermittent Draining Floating Biofilter
• Adrian Stefan, Distortion as a Means of Understanding: How Tree-Inspired Buildings Bend Perceptions of Nature and Technology
• Sadie Wallis, Imagining Mundane Alternatives: Limitation and Potential Within Scheduling Practices
• Maya Weil-Cooley, Agricultural Awareness: Modeling the Impacts of Conservation and Traditional Agricultural Practices on Carbon Sequestration, Nutrient and Sediment Export in the Mohawk River Watershed

French and Francophone Studies

Honors theses

• Grace Goldberg, De la piaule à la chambre d’échos: résonances de la chambre chez Annie Ernaux (“An absolute continuity”: Echoes of the Bedroom in Annie Ernaux’s Les Armoires vides, L’Événement and Mémoire de Fille)
• Sophie Thompson, Le travail de mémoire des femmes et la rébellion dans le roman francophone postcolonial (The Work of Women’s Memory and Rebellion in Postcolonial Novels Written in French)

Geosciences

• Emma Bowman, Geochemical Study of Volcanic Rocks in the Skaftafell Region, Southeastern Iceland
• Veronica Herschel Seixas, Determining the Structure and Kinematics of the Joorina Arch in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia using AMS and EBSD
• Sofia Weinstein, Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction using Isotopic Analysis of Live, Dead, and Fossil Gastropods from the Wakulla River, Florida
• Marcella Winget, Correlating Mid Devonian Geochemical Signals in the Thunder Bay Formation in State Chester Welch #18 Core and Outcrop, Michigan Basin
• Max Wutzke, The Powder River Volcanic Field: A geochemical and petrogenetic study of calc-alkaline andesites and dacites from northeastern Oregon

German Studies

• Allen Cao, “Unter die Tischdecke gucken”: Constructing GDR Social Criticism in Ulrich Plenzdorf’s Die neuen Leiden des jungen W
• Eric Moss, Remembrance and Reconciliation: “Working through the Past” with Adorno and Hensel
• James Thomas, “Am Rand meines Blickfeldes”: Migration, Identity, and Waste Imagery in Yoko Tawada’s Überseezungen

Government

Honors theses

• Sarah Ahrens, An Invisible Poison: Examining Childhood Lead Poisoning in Utica, New York
• Raio Huang, Privacy of Generative AI: A Study on Contextual Integrity

Hispanic Studies

• Cassandra E. Adler, La niña de 1:50 (a portfolio of work including a short story, poems, translations, and play scripts)
• Eva C. Hays, Quien siembra vientos (a portfolio of work including a short story, poems, translations, and a video)
• Elizabeth N. Herr, Dos tipos (a portfolio of work including a short story, poems, translations, and play scripts)
• Anna B. Kein, Dientes perdidos (a portfolio of work including a short story, poems, translations, and drawings)

Honors presentations

• Kathy Guerra Vazquez, El Corrido Mexicano frente a las tragedias de Tlatelolco y Ayotzinapa
• Sophia Sherman, Las barreras del sistema de salud occidental en Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia y Gregorio Condori Mamani: Autobiografía

History

Honors theses

• Quinn Brown, Deir Yassin, 1948: Memory and Forgetting in the Construction of Nationalism.
• Allen Cao, Daqing Spirit: A Great Celebration of Maoism
• Georgia Davis, Persecution and Perseverance: A Historical Analysis of The Book of Martyrs
• Dylan Fargis, The Trial of Warren Hastings: Historical Contention over the Repercussions and Legacies of Hastings, Burke, and Empire
• Elizabeth Gee, Dancers, Dames, and Dissenters: How Women Navigated Race and Gender at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
• James Kaeser, A Lawyer's Duty: Elihu Root, Historical Memory, and the Construction of US Empire
• Charlotte Morey, “Olympic Ideas for Selfish Ends”: The Projection of Soviet National Identity at the 1980 Moscow Games
• Elijah Morosky, Observing the Masses: Snapshots on the Road to the British Welfare State
• Timothy Murray, Historiography of the Holocaust: Reevaluating the Intentionalist -- Structuralist Debate
• Carter Myers-Brown, “Unfixed in Place and Time”: The 1919 Canadian Labor Revolts in Song and Memory
• Sumiko Newman, Much More than a “Body of Sentimental Women”: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Construction of a Lost Cause Civil Religion at the Beauvoir Home
• Jacob Piazza, The Crumbling Tower of Anthropology: Missing Epistemic Foundations in the Study of Race and Culture
• Jack Ritzenberg, Nature and Nation: Creating American Wilderness.
• Brian Seiter, The Battle of Algiers and its Afterlives: Interrogating the Tactics and Transmission of Modern Power through the Yves Godard Papers
• Kloe Shkane, Aljamiado: Resisting Spanish Catholic Oppression through Islamic Literature
• Benjamin Ziegler, When Issues Arise: Grappling with the History of the Valley of the Fallen
• Helen Ziobrowski, The Impact of Inclusion: Accessible Housing in the 20th Century Disability Rights Movement

Interdisciplinary Studies

Interdisciplinary Studies in Public Health

• Aliana Potter, Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns and Perspectives in HPSAs and non-HPSAs

Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Movements & Community Organizing

• Eric Santomauro-Stenzel, Dog Whistling, Dog Catching: Right-Wing Beachheads on College Campuses

Interdisciplinary Studies in Computer Science

• Gift (Chidera) Uwakwe, Designing User Experiences: The Intersection of Art and Technology

Interdisciplinary Studies in Means of Persuasion

• Jesse Wexler, The Topiary

Japanese

• Jessica Frantzen, Your Highness and Their Professor: Politeness in Support Conversations in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Justin Hern, Exploring Complex Grief and Memory in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking
• Adam Hibbert, A Study into Gender-oriented particles in Japanese
• Leo Hsieh, Hiroshima Kodo Elementary School: The Effect of Jyodo Shinshu and the Transformation of Japan’s Contemporary Education
• Mustafa Ismail, Honorifics and friendly usage of Japanese
• Skyla Patterson, Title: Learners of Japanese and Loanword Acquisition
• Veronica Seixas, Technology and Nature in the Manga Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Literature

Honors presentations

• Gabriela de Mendonça Gomes, “The Voices Awakened on the Rocks”: An Explication of Polyphony & Peculiar Consciousness in Georg Büchner’s Lenz
• Kathleen Deedy, Machines with Eyes: Photographic Surrealist Sensibilities in Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight
• Anna Kein, Drama in Translation: Tom Stoppard and The House of Bernarda Alba
• Sabrina Martinez, “These Violent Delights”: Chasing Community and Belonging in Vampire Narratives of the Late 20th Century
• Anthony Scurto, “Female Wanton Boys”: Gender and National Identity in the Original Performance Context of Dido, Queene of Carthage

Mathematics and Statistics

Honors projects

• Grace Brophy, Understanding Voting Behavior
• Violet Shi, Infinitesimals in Non-Archimedean Fields
• John Wilson, Tackling the Issue of Influence: Ranking Linebackers with K-Mean Clustering

Middle East/Islamicate Worlds Studies

• Syra Gutow, Weaving Culture: The Evolution of Amazigh Textiles as Proxies for Amazigh Culture in Morocco 1912-2023

Music

• Cameron Gray, Interface: A Work for Vibraphone and Orchestra
• Ryan Hayes, A Handful of Joy
• Yinjia Hou, Rock Voices USA: Accessibility and Post-Colonialism in an Amateur Rock Choir
• Caitlin Moehrle, A Melody for the Monsters, A Novel in Sound
• Anna Skrobala, Ethel Smyth: Her Life and Work
• Alexander (Alex) Weremchuk, Study in Electric Grooves

Neuroscience

• Anna Arzeno, Neurogenic mechanisms underlying lead induced hyperactivity
• Bailey S. Black, Sexually Dimorphic Expressivity of Arginine Vasotocin in Brains of Adult Osteopilus Septentrionalis
• Ella Brady, Is Miro1 Involved in the Development of Neurodegenerative Disease?
• CC Cawood, You Need to Block them Both: Investigating the Neural Circuitry of Amphetamine Craving in Rats
• Grace Chapis, Investigating Contamination OCD Through a Psychoneuroimmunology Lens
• Josh Chase, You Need to Block them Both: Investigating the Neural Circuitry of Amphetamine Craving in Rats
• Amanda Clifford, Too Sleepy to Focus? How Sustained Attention Fluctuates with Our Sleep/Wake Cycle
• Catherine Fengler, An Embryonic Times Series of Cortical Development in Miro1 Knockout Mice
• Eliza Gonzalez, Examining the Interplay of Explicit and Implicit Learning in Motor Adaptation: A Developmental Perspective
• Drake Gorecki, Individual Differences in the Placebo Responses of Rats: Studies with Amphetamine and Morphine
• Kelly Grossman, The Neural Basis of Motor Adaptation
• Kathy Guerra, Inhibitory Networks: Mitochondrial Dynamics and Adaptation
• Tam Ha, The Effects of Loneliness on Threat Perception and Parasympathetic Activity
• Madison Hinojos, Hands-On Illusions: Investigating Vision’s Impact on Touch
• Sarah John, Exploring the Toxicogenomic Impact of Chronic Exposure to Lead (Pb) on Neurodevelopment in Drosophila melanogaster
• Nicholas D. Kern, Characterizing TBHR: A Monooxygenase Orthologue to Monooxygenase X (MOXd1) in Drosophila Melanogaster
• Jennifer R. Klix, Why Do We Call It Mental Illness?: The Immune System’s Role in Linking Attachment and Depression
• Summer Meade, Through the Looking Glass: A Theatrical Intervention for Youth with ASD
• Isabella Piacentino, What’s the harm? Examining the Impact of Combined Puberty Blockers and Feminizing Hormones in Male Rats.
• Katie Powell, Oxytocin’s Role in Cooperation and Attention
• Madison Marie Rainone, Miro1 and Its Role in Ethanol Addiction
• Cole Rivell, Localization of the Human Monooxygenase X DBH-Like 1 (MOXd1) Orthologue in Drosophila melanogaster
• Rachel Saxon, Benefits of Scaffolded Learning: Insights from 6- to 7-Year-Old Children
• Cat Schmitt, Come Closer, I’m Sick? Personal Space Regulation and the Immune System
• Hannah Singer, The Role of Miro1 in Spinal Cord Neurodegeneration
• Julien Swoap, Investigating the Impact of Intrusive Thoughts on Selective Attention

Philosophy

• Zavier Alvarez, Conviction and Conversation: The Benefits of Listening to Hypocrites
• Ali Burbano, House Culture: The Embodied Aesthetic of Authenticity and Model for Community Building
• Walker Cummins, Schopenhauer and the Experience Machine
• Claire Cutler, The Cost of Unknowing: Examining the Role of Willful Ignorance in Seeking Emotional Comfort
• Gabriela De Mendonca Gomes, This May or May Not Be Something: How Narratives Inform Our (Un)certainties about Identity and Reality
• Olivia DiTommaso, It’s Not an Imitation, It’s a Becoming: Why Teaching Method Acting is Unethical with Respect to Identity and the Self
• Mark Fakler, The Science of Living: The Emergence of a Novel Discourse of Self-Improvement
• Jane Galian, Bodies Act Back: Can the Marriage of Feminism and Ethical Veganism Be Saved?
• Katie Hansen, Against Adversarial Argumentation
• Simon Hoke, Ontology and Environmental Activism
• Liam Hudgings, Laughter and Meaning in Nietzsche – How to Philosophize in an Unstable World
• Vesa Miftari, Mariátegui’s Myth and Reason in Revolutionary Praxis
• Jack Nelson, Living Awake in the World: Indigenous Wisdom and the Attention Economy
• Julia Radomisli, Self-Definition in the Working World.
• Kaitlin Reed, The Hoax of Personality Testing: A Critique of the Dangerous Industry That Conflates Science with Selfhood, and An Exploration of Alternative Avenues for Understanding the Self
• Zak Ruso, A Journey from Sisyphus to the Psyche
• Cat Schmitt, Depraved or Just Dirty? What Can Disgust Tell Us About Moral Value?
• Oliver Stevens, The Poets Strike Back: a Defense of Fiction
• Alexander Weremchuk, A Picture of Jazz: Language in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and Jazz Improvisation
• Scout Winer, Stop Making Sense: Wittgenstein, Absurdist Theater, and the Challenge of Meaning
• Tianxing Zhang, Intentionally Saving the Day: Mental State Ascription and Moral Valence in Knobe Effect

Physics

• Alex Axton, Improving Bimodal Antenna-Resonator Coupling
• Shane Dux, Observation of Exoplanet Confirmation of Exoplanet TIC 250839071.01
• Leah Khovov, Exploring the Fabrication Process for PDMS Microfluidic Sorters
• Maggie Maselli, My First Glimpse at Teaching: A Lab Investigation into Pressure and Area Using Hovercrafts
• Clare Nelle, A Characterization of Loosely-Coherent Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves
• Yongwoo Park, Engineering a Magnetometer using Diamond NV Centers
• Michael Scoleri, Bridging Simulation and Visualization: 3D Rendering of Accretion Processes in Black Holes
• Pippi Seider, Artificial Cytoplasm: Crowding Components Causing Anomalous Diffusion

Psychology

• Esther Auerbach, “Dear God, Why Me?”: Personality, Religious/Spiritual Struggles, and Well-being in a Jewish Population
• Emily Borden, Stereotypes and Bail Hearings
• Kalie Calagna, White Privilege Perceptions Following an Ego Threat: Comparing Self-Affirmation and Self-Compassion as Protective Factors
• Jordan Che, Does Targeting Pluralistic Ignorance Reduce Loneliness by Decreasing the Pressure to Hide Negative Emotions from Others?
• Olivia Dashefsky, Impact of Mental Illness Mitigating Evidence on Blame Attribution and Sentencing Endorsements
• Casey Fiore, The Relationship Between Self-Reflection and Social Problem-Solving
• Jessica Lee Frantzen, Can Video Games Help Us Keep Going?
• Katherine Guido, The Relationship Between Attending a Strict Religious Faith-Based School and Worsening Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Early Adolescents
• Arden Hauck, The Straw that Broke the Friendship’s Back: How Gender Impacts Friendship Breakups
• Melissa Kaleka, For the Love of Subtitles! Inattention and Digital Media
• Alana King, The Power of Play: How Play Impacts Well-being in Adulthood
• Ashley Krawshuk, Time Flies When You’re With Your Pet? The Role of Pets in Affective Time Estimation
• Lindsay Kuser, Is Higher Education Liberal Propaganda? The Relationship Between College Major and Political Affiliation
• Chloe Lance, MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD: The Role of Music Selection
• Rachel Luxton, Art Therapy for Autism: Is There a Better Age to Start?
• Lucy Makin, With a Little Help From My Friend: The Effect of the Presence of a Close Friend on Positive Risk-Taking
• Claire McGennis, Problem-Solving Strategies in Middle Childhood: Employing Self-Talk to Narrate a Growth Mindset
• Tori Morelli, “Put me in, Coach”: How Coaching Style Impacts Performance Outcomes
• Lucy Naughton, Investigating Correlates of PTSD and Depression After Unwanted Sexual Contact: Victim-Blame, Self-Blame, and Rape Myth Acceptance
• Julia Oakes, Missed Autism Diagnosis? The Role of Sex, Gender Identity, and Camouflaging
• Skyla Holiday Patterson, Collectivism or Individualism: Which Is Stronger When Resources Are Scarce?
• Jackson Sattinger, Examining the Role of Learning in Emotion Regulation
• Piper Seamon, Athletic Participation as Protection? Understanding the Relationship Between Sport Type and Eating Disorders in Females
• Caroline Shen, The Effect of Race and Symptomatology on Patient Believability
• Rachel Shornick, Cumulative Risk and Parent Stress on Child Emotion Regulation: Can Pretend Play Serve as a Protective Factor?
• Abigail Stanimer, What’s Mine Is Yours
• Tim Zhang, The Social Disgust: Reported Disgust Mediates Perceived Observation and Blame
• Oliver Zhao, Start Simple: The Use of Scaffolded Learning in A Complex Spatial Localization Task

Public Policy

Honors presentations

• Evan Cohen, Navigating the Uncertain Future of the Colorado River
• Lorelei Glidden, Affordable, Sustainable Housing in New York City
• Mary Hurner, Housing Support Resources in Utica, New York and the Role of Community Input
• Emma Reilly, Seas of Power: Offshore Wind Development in the United States and New Jersey
• Rebecca Toomey, A Legal, Historic, and Theoretical Background of Disability Rights as Human Rights and Recommendations for the Improvement of Diabetic Patient Care in Long-Term Care Facilities
• Alexi Vaillancourt, Analysis of Homeless Policy in Utica

Religious Studies

• Esther Auerbach, Representing the Sefirot: Therapeutic Trends in Kabbalah-inspired Artwork
• Sae Gleba, Depictions of Catholics in the Political Cartoons of Thomas Nast
• Xavier Nelson, The Percy Jackson to Paganism Pipeline: How Literature Can Influence a Pagan Identity
• Breeze Petty, Birds of a Feather: How National Identity Has Been Crafted Through Children’s Religious Media in Jordan
• Abigail Stanimer, Awe and Devotion: A Comparison of Charismatic Authority

Russian Studies

• Emily Ferguson, The Joy of the Russes: An Analysis of Alcoholism in the Soviet Union

Sociology

• Kate Bacigalupo, Decolonizing Spaces: A Comparative Study of Two Art Museums Initiatives Towards Inclusivity and Representation
• Christina Bagin ’25, A Sexual Utopia: Three Words that do not Describe College
• Julia Rose Brous, Loud Cheers and Quiet Whispers: The Impact of Leadership and Gossip on a Collegiate Soccer Team’s Cohesion and Motivational Climate
• Anusha Karki, Crossing Borders, Bridging Care: Examining Reproductive Healthcare Access and Health-seeking Behaviors among Migrant Women in Utica
• Stephen Kelly, Understanding the Achievement Gap: The Effects of Race and Gender on Educational Attainment and Income
• Sage Lively, It’s a (Parasocial) Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes: A Procedural Exploration of the Creation and Maintenance of the Taylor Swift
• Lilian MacVeagh, The Gender of Parenting: Parent-Child Relationships in Post-Divorce Families
• Bram Mansbach, Trust Dynamics between the Unhoused and their Service Providers
• Emily McGovern, The Digital Persona: The Role of Strategic Self-Presentation Among Emerging Adults on Instagram
• Aising Mockler, “We’re All Just Kids!”: A Sociological Exploration of The Meaning of Play for Individual Actors
• Melissa Morelli, “Where Does the Distinction Lie?” The Impact of Public and Private High School Resourcing on Students’ Transition to an Elite College
• Olivia Morrow, Consuming Identity: The Intersection of Consumer Culture and Student Identity in Elite Academia
• Raymond Ni, Contested Classrooms: How Partisan Politics Shape the Discourse on Inclusive Education in Public High Schools
• Jack O’Haire, Know Thyself? Network Creation in Postgraduate Urban Environments
• Rebecca Pomerantz, Underground Sound
• Aliana Potter, Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns and Perspectives in Health Provider Shortage Areas (HPSA) and non-HPSAs
• Natalia Reboredo, Inside an Urban Charter School: What are Marginalized Students Learning?

Theatre

• Naomi Drew, directing, Anything Can Happen by Cary Pepper
• Emmett Dupree, writing and directing, How Casey Tells It
• Mateo Gomez, On Sundays
• Katrina Grzeszuk, creation of a Stage Managers Handbook
• Christian Hernandez, directing, Our Lady of Perpetual Doubt by C.E. Glanville
• Alyssa Mangiaracina, writing and directing, HERE AND QUEER: A Verbatim Theatre Project
• Summer Meade, directing, The Recommendation by Jillian Blevins
• Aisling Mockler, directing, About Michael by Peter Anthony Fields
• Rachel O’Brien, costume design for the Main Stage production of Angels in America by Tony Kushner
• Jack O’Haire, design, How Casey Tells It by Emmett Dupree
• Irmak Sagir, writing, directing, and performing, This is Not About That
• Anthony Scurto, production dramaturg for the Main Stage production of Concord Floral by Jordan Tannahill
• Nicole Tichner, directing, The Dating Pool by Arianna Rose

Women’s and Gender Studies

• Maja Domagala, Gideon the Ninth (2019) and Harrow the Ninth (2020): Transcending Lesbian Death Through Revolutionary Lesbian Love
• Syra Gutow, Under the Elms and By the Sea: Rural Community Building in Politically Diverse Castine, ME.
• Jules Oakes, Queer at Hamilton College: Mental Health Care at the Counseling Center
• Anna O’Shea, “Life is Movement, Let Us Dance”: Choreopolitics and the Kinetic Reaching Towards Freedom in Carceral Spaces.
• Nate Wild, Body Standards in Queer Men: How Social Media Exacerbates Racialized Beauty Standards in the LGBTQ+ Community

World Politics

Honors thesis

• Zhou (Brian) Hu, Unpacking the US Friend-Shoring Practice in the Critical Mineral Sector: A Case Study of the Mineral Security Partnership