Senior Theses Dig Deep, Demonstrate Knowledge Gained
We asked a few members of the Class of 2024 to tell us about their senior projects and share their biggest takeaways.
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
Weaving Culture: The Evolution of Amazigh Textiles as Proxies for Amazigh Culture in Morocco 1912-2023
Syra Gutow explores the impacts of French colonialism on expressions of indigenous culture in Morocco during the colonial period from 1912 to 1956 and then in the post-colonial period from 1956 to 2023.
What motivated your thesis selection?
I studied abroad in Morocco in Spring 2023 and knew I wanted to use that experience to formulate my thesis. While in Morocco I was in a course on Amazigh culture and their cultural expression, including crafts. That summer, then, I continued on in Morocco and worked at a weaving cooperative while doing a Levitt center research project on the economic impacts from colonialism on Amazigh weaving. So, starting senior year, I had all this research and information. But, I didn't necessarily have a central question to guide the research. That was probably the hardest part of the process — dialing down to a specific guiding question.
Who supported you and how?
My advisor, Professor Jumet, was a huge support. She recommended that I look into Amazigh culture and encouraged me to study in Morocco. Also, the people that I interviewed were amazing. I spent two weeks working with the Anou cooperative. They were so welcoming of me and so eager to teach me about the craft sector in Morocco — both past and present. They provided me with most of the information that I needed to write my thesis.
What did you discover?
My main argument is that the French colonial government recategorized the craft sector through their policies and largely commodified weaving for international export. Through that process they changed, codified, and restricted different designs and expressions of Amazigh culture, which resulted in a loss of designs alongside changing interpretations and uses of culture. A push and pull of cultural power. The weaving culture today, then, has remnants of French restrictions on the craft sector amidst cultural reclamation efforts.
Did your findings lead you to ask more specific questions and broaden your curiosity?
I think with any project, you answer some questions and end up with more. What’s interesting about Morocco is it’s very multicultural, so you still have some discrimination and inequality leveraged against the Amazigh today. I’m really interested in where Morocco’s craft industry will go from here. How will activism for cultural change and Amazigh rights and representation occur and what role will the craft sector play?
What part of your thesis are you most proud of?
There’s two sides to this, I think. One, I’m really proud of the final product, its quality, and the effort I put into it. But I’m also really proud to have met the people I did through this project and to have hopefully been able to add their voices to the discourse around this topic.
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
Biology, cont'd.
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
The Effect of Seasonal Habitat (subnivium) Formation on Rodent Activity and Size-Dependent Seed Predation
Collaborating on data collection but analyzing different data for their biology theses, Saleh Eltayeb and Simon Yan examined how snow depth and temperature affect how long rodents forage and their specific foraging behavior, respectively.
What motivated your thesis selection?
Eltayeb: [Assistant Professor of Biology] Peter Guiden started this project a year or two ago. He’s trying to get years’ worth of data, and we thought it would be interesting to use each of our theses to contribute to that data set.
Yan: Yeah, I found the focus of his study interesting and was intrigued by the idea of incorporating a lab culture with more fieldwork. We did our research together, but each of us explored a different aspect of the data set.
Who supported you and how?
Eltayeb: Our advisor guided us through the planning, data collection, and data analysis. Also the plant animal lab was really helpful with our presentations and revisions.
Yan: The plant animal lab throughout the year has provided significant help in different aspects, helping us navigate through all the resources and doing lab work. Everyone puts in significant time and supports each other to grow.
What did you discover?
Eltayeb: We found that with less snow, only one species foraged where we had cameras set up.
Yan: That was actually surprising, too, because there are a lot of species where we conducted our research. Another surprise was that gray squirrels unexpectedly showed up, which forced us to incorporate them into our analysis. So overall we didn’t find any significant relationships between rodents and temperature patterns, but we were surprised by the complexities of winter environments.
Did your findings lead you to ask more specific questions and broaden your curiosity?
Eltayeb: Snow accumulation affects small rodents and humans differently. It really broadened my curiosity on how anthropogenic changes in weather patterns have impacts on even the smallest animals.
Yan: Our results really taught us the importance of winter environments, so I think understanding their role could help facilitate ecological conservation or more effective management strategies.
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
Computer Science, cont'd.
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
Economics, cont'd.
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
A Melody for the Monsters, A Novel in Sound
“In a world where music is magic, creatures bend their will to the power of a song — but only if the notes are performed perfectly.” Moehrle combines creative writing and music in her theses, an epic fantasy novel accompanied by musical composition.
What motivated your thesis selection?
For my creative writing thesis, I knew I wanted to write a fantasy story. I’d been thinking about something based on Irish folklore and involving music since before junior year. I always had an idea for the main protagonist and knew her goals. For my music thesis, one of the requirements was composition. I’d never done composition before, but I decided to take a leap and create a series of compositions based on my novel. So the two of them ended up really bouncing off each other.
Who supported you and how?
My music advisor, [Associate Professor of Music] Ryan Carter, helped develop my creative style and confidence. Also the amazing musicians who helped me record. My creative writing advisors, Anne Valenti and Hoa Ngo, helped me develop and refine my story and big ideas. Professor of Music Heather Buchman inspired me to think about music in creative ways. Professor of Literature Jane Springer also inspired me to use poetry to imagine how music would sound on a page.
Tell me about your novel and composition. What happens and what do you tackle?
I created a fantasy world where music is magic, and musicians train to perfect the songs of mythical creatures. The protagonist is a young musician who is setting out to find her place in this world. It tackles environmentalism and our relationship with the natural world. As for the composition, I translated my characters and scenes into music. Some tracks were more intimate featuring a solo instrument, and then some were completely the opposite — like something you would hear in a Lord of the Rings movie.
Did the process open new creative doors or broaden your curiosity?
Working on such a big project for so long proved that I’m capable of doing it. I was writing for days on end but I loved it, and it reminded me why I want to be an author. It’s not just a far-off dream I had when I was 5. It was also amazing to write for so many different instruments; I’m primarily a string player so my musical horizons were really broadened.
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
Environmental Studies, cont'd.
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
A Study on Non-Voters in the Past Three Presidential Elections
Kondracki analyzed election data from 2012, 2016, and 2020 to determine and model patterns in non-voter activity for his data science senior project.
What motivated your thesis selection?
I was in a senior statistics seminar and we’d been working on data sets throughout the semester when our professor brought up a survey from the American National Election Study with tons of interesting questions from before and after voting. A lot of the unknown during elections comes from non-voters, so I thought that looking at their voting patterns in that data could be really interesting and helpful — especially in 2024.
Who supported you and how?
There were so many different roads we could have gone down with the data, and my advisor, [Associate Professor of Statistics Chinthaka] Kuruwita, gave a lot of direction on ideas and what variables to consider. He provided a lot of resources for modeling what I discovered, too. Data science is also a new concentration, so he was super excited to help. I would say our seminar class, too. There were only 13 people so we supported each other a lot when analyzing data and practicing presentations. Definitely a tight-knit group.
What did you discover?
If you have a history of being interested in politics or in candidates you’re obviously more likely to be a voter — it’s very easy to model. Predicting non-voter trends, however, is much more of a wild card. Trends in non-voter activity aren’t wholly consistent: non-voters were more likely to not have IDs, they were less likely to have assets, or many said they were likely to vote and ultimately didn’t. Their trends are drastically different from those who regularly vote, so it’s super hard to model and predict their voting behavior. However, this demographic is also super important during elections, so research into non-voter trends is crucial.
Did your findings lead you to ask more specific questions and broaden your curiosity?
I want to learn more about how to collect good political data. One of the issues was that we analyzed categorical data, which can be more difficult to interpret. I’m interested in how we can use more concise data to get accurate insights on non-voter trends but also be able to tap into the interesting questions — like on social media usage or where people grew up — which speak to those patterns and provide voting strategies moving forward.
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
Neuroscience, cont'd.
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
Conviction and Conversation: The Benefits of Listening to Hypocrites
Alvarez-Burock’s philosophy thesis explores why hypocrites have valid arguments and why alienating them is harmful to the discipline.
What motivated your thesis selection?
I was inspired by Professor of Philosophy Alexandra Plakias’ work. She published a paper exploring how philosophy privileges people who are overconfident in their arguments, and someone who might not be confident but might still have a very good argument is dissuaded from publishing. I wondered if there’s anywhere else this can be applied and thought, well, hypocrites. For example, a vegan Youtuber I follow, Alex O’Conner, after he stopped being vegan, was labeled a hypocrite and his arguments disregarded; it felt like another case where we’re taking someone’s character and giving it too much bearing on their convictions.
Who supported you and how?
I’d say my two roommates: Dana Goettler ’24 and Cass Adler ’24. They helped read through my thesis and give notes. Also talking to them about the hypocrisy they’d seen in the world. My advisor, [Philosophy] Professor Russel Marcus, gave me lots of guidance, too. I’ve taken his classes before, and he’s had so many brilliant assignments. Those assignments and his team-based learning approach helped me think differently and come up with these thought experiments.
What did you discover?
Hypocrisy can happen for a number of reasons — from personal to circumstantial. Oftentimes, though, those reasons aren’t relevant to the strength of your arguments. So, by excluding people because of their hypocrisy, we miss out on key voices with different perspectives. And that’s overall bad for the field of philosophy; we want as many voices as possible.
Did your findings lead you to ask more specific questions and broaden your curiosity?
I think my findings felt more like I was pulling a bunch of thoughts I’d always had together. I brought a bunch of different ideas together and made them more cohesive. I took four or five specific different ideas from classes and I turned them into one project. So, I don’t know if I opened any interesting new doors, but I feel like I explored the ones I had always wanted to, which, in a way, broadened my curiosity.
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
Psychology, cont'd.
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
Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns in Health Provider Shortage Areas and non-HPSAs
Potter's interdisciplinary senior project compares and documents the experiences of healthcare providers in Utica, N.Y. (where there’s a shortage of healthcare professionals) and her hometown of Boston (where there is no shortage).
What motivated your thesis selection?
In sophomore summer I did research in Utica talking with OB-GYN healthcare providers about their experience giving care to refugee mothers. That got me interested in studying the perspectives of healthcare providers because I think it’s a good way to determine what’s working and not working in the healthcare system. Also, I’m going into health policy, and the overarching goal is to improve the healthcare system, so this was a good way to start in that area.
Who supported you and how?
I worked with my advisor, Associate Professor of Sociology Matthew Grace, one-on-one all year. He gave me really great feedback and helped me work through my ideas and research methods. … Also [Mahala] Stewart in sociology. She improved my understanding of how to conduct qualitative research and ask effective questions. At the beginning I struggled to find interview subjects before I used the alumni directory to find doctors in Boston and Utica; so I’d say Hamilton’s alumni network ended up being a huge support, too.
What did you discover?
My biggest finding was that despite how different the two areas appear, providers had similar concerns. In both areas they had similar experiences and frustrations with medical malpractice and the U.S.’s health insurance system. My biggest finding, though, was that many providers in Boston were frightened of a burgeoning healthcare provider shortage there — those HPSA (Health Provider Shortage Areas) designations I based my study around aren’t telling the full story.
Did your findings lead you to ask more specific questions and broaden your curiosity?
There are a lot of issues in primary care that are not being addressed and reasons that there aren’t enough primary care providers — especially given the growing shortage in
Boston, which is supposed to be a non-HPSA. There needs to be more research done into why there’s that shortage. Also, I’ll be working in health policy, and when I shared this with the providers they said that they find people in health policy don’t always take into consideration the real experiences of healthcare professionals. It’s inspired me to put more work into centering the experiences of healthcare professionals in our system.
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
Sociology, cont'd
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
Theatre, cont'd.
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
Open Curriculum
Study What You Love
With a distinctive open curriculum and more than 50 areas of study, Hamilton provides you with the freedom, responsibility, and opportunity to create an individualized plan of study.
What’s Next: The Class of 2024
Members of Hamilton’s Class of 2024 have walked off the Commencement stage, canes in hand, and out into the world ready to make a difference.
How Two Distinct Disciplines Meshed in a Senior Thesis
Discovering the intersections between two disciplines miles apart is no easy path to take — but it is a rewarding one. Christian Hernández Barragán ’24, a government and theatre major, shares how he meshed his two favorite departments in his senior theses and in off-campus adventures in London and Washington, D.C.
