Students with a high academic record entering their senior year—above a 3.5 GPA—can pursue Honors by completing significant or original work in their major. These projects are some of the finest work Ursinus students have completed, often leading to work in graduate school or by future Ursinus students. Students who complete a project of remarkable discipline and originality can earn Distinguished Honors.
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Characterizing Plasmids in Ciprofloxacin Resistant Transconjugants (CRTs), Benjamin Antill
Urban Forests and Their Potential to Combat Food Insecurity: Analyzing Street Trees in Baltimore, MD for Their Edibility, Victoria Bearden
Pigeonholed: Autistic Representation in Drama, Sarah Buck
Classical Conditioning of Cognitive States, Arthur Burns
The Modulation of SARS-CoV-2 S1 Glycoprotein on the Cytokine Activity of Microglia Cells, Courtney Burns
Fighting Food Insecurity in New York City: What Role for Street Trees?, Kristen Cooney
Genetic Interactions of PAM-1 & MPF in Developing Oocytes, Quaran Davis
Dopaminergic Axon Development in Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Kevyn Dewees
Digging Deeper: The Impact of Depth on Soil Organic Matter Stabilization Dynamics in a Forage System, Finnleigh Shane Doherty
There Is Sometimes A Buggy: Queering the Cowboy, Kelsey Gavin
Feed-in Tariffs and Sustainable Energy: Why Different OECD Governments Support Sustainable Energy at Different Rates Through Feed-in Tariffs, Joshua M. Grahame
DNA Cleavage Activity of de novo Designed Due Ferri Single Chain (DFsc) Proteins, Alana Huynh
Investigating Protein Interactions Important for Synapse Formation in the Developing Brain, Simbarashe Kanjanda
Investigating the Interaction Between PAM-1 and WEE-1.3 During Meiosis in C. elegans, Sophie Lear
Candidate Emergence Among Women: Responsibility to Run, Abigail Peabody
Gabriel(le) et Marcel(le): La Fluidité du Genre dans Gabriel (1839) de George Sand et Madame Adonis (1888) de Rachilde, Elisa Rodriguez
What Role Do Women in Politics Play for Democratic Erosion?, Emelyn Rodriguez
Identification of Sex and Aging Differences in C57BL/6-NClr Mice on the Ketogenic Diet, Ken Sprankle
Bi the Way, Don’t Pan-ic: An Interview-Based Study of the Coming Out Experiences of College-Aged Bisexuals and Pansexuals, Annie Stockmal
Miracles Happen: An Exploration of Girlhood and Celebrity, Sarah Thompson
Press Any Button to Get Started: Approaching Japanese Culture and Society Through Video Games, Amanda Weber
The Effect of DNA Sequence on Oligonucleotide-Stabilized Lipid Micelles, Zenya Yanoff
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Investigating Interactions Between PAM-1 and the Maturation Promoting Factor in Cell Cycle Regulation in Caenorhabditis elegans, Nareen Babaian
COVID-19: The Impact of a Nation’s Political Economic Structure on its Labor Market Spending Policies, Mary Margaret Baldy
Meta-Analysis of Long Term Executive Functioning Deficits in Individuals with Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries, Dominique Ballinger
Characterizing lz6, a Suppressor of the pam-1 Mutation in C. elegans, AJ Belville
Movement of Neurotransmitter Ions Through Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs), Michael Bonfiglio
Sunk or Dunk?: An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Sunk Cost Fallacy in Professional Basketball, Hailey DiCicco
Neuroliberalism and Beyond, Neve Durrwachter
Historiography of the Crusades in Timelines: Big Data, Textual Analysis, and Data Visualization, Matthew Furgele
Tools for Change: Theatre for Social Justice in Communities of Marginalized Youth, Myla Haan
Simulating Many Body Localization With Rydberg Atoms, Alicia Handian
Differences in Endurance Exercise Capacity and Metabolic Gene Expression in Male and Female Mice, Lola Holcomb
Estimating White-Tailed Deer Abundance in Urban Freshwater Tidal Marsh Habitat, Ian Johnson
Subspecies and Sequence of Exon 10 of the AHR Locus in Three Mid-Atlantic Populations of Fundulus heteroclitus, Matthew Kenwood
The Phenomenon of Sexual Violence During Armed Conflicts in the Twenty-First Century: Entering the Era of Survivors as Agents of Peace, Shayna Kushner
Phenotypic Observations of Cytoskeletal Genes in C. elegans Compared to pam-1 Mutants, Shira Levin
Cool Japan and the Hallyu Wave: The Effect of Popular Culture Exports on National Image and Soft Power, Gillianne Lux
Differences in Male and Female Ex Vivo Contractile Forces and Fatigue Post-Injury in Mus musculus, Emily Megill
The Combined Effects of Thermal and Salinity Stress on the Species of Coral, Astrangia poculata, Hannah Merges
Cultural Empowerment in the Classroom: What Role Does Private Culture Have in Public Education?, Autumn Murphy
Single-Neutron States in 51Ti via Neutron Transfer Reaction to 50Ti, Jessica Nebel-Crosson
The Effect of Exercise Training on Glucose Homeostasis and Insulin Signaling in Type 1 Diabetic Female Mice, Caitlin O'Neill
Skorupskian Allyship: Human Rights Reconstructed Through Efficacious Enforcement and Social Relativism, Chase Opperman
Measurement of Hydrolytic Activity of DFsc Proteins Using 4-Methylumbelliferyl Phosphate and Bis(4-nitrophenyl) Phosphate, Joseph Pantel
The Curriculum of Change: Aims and Methods of a Social Justice Education, Thea Pastras
Do Students Buy Attention-Grabbing Stocks? A Field Experiment, George Psaradakis
How True is Causal Closure?, Paul Ravelli
Analysis of Plasma Cholesterol Levels With a High Fat Diet Induced-Obesity Mouse Model, Vikki Rueda-Juarez
Tuning Photo-Sensitive Intramolecular Electron Transfers in Rhenium Coordination Compounds, Nicole Schmalbach
Intellectual Access and Spirituality: The Twin Urgencies of Responsible American Education, Matthew Schmitz
Investigating the Interaction Between PSD-95 and Synaptic Adhesion Protein Slitrk2, Aliyah Stephens
A World With no Porpoise: Why the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society May be the Last Hope for the Vaquita, Ellie Templeton
Development of a Single-walled Nanotube Drug Delivery System for Clarithromycin, Christina Wentz
Victimes ou Criminelles: A Historical and Comparative Analysis of Sex Work Policy in France, Carver Wolfe
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
To Whom Consent May Concern: Understanding Consent Legally, Institutionally, and Culturally, Kiley Addis
The Yellow Belly Anthology: Micro-Films About Humans at Their Least Impressive, Tommy Armstrong
Differences in Glucose Uptake by [psi-] and [PSI+] Cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Samantha Beck
The Belt and Road Initiative: China’s Rise, America’s Balance, and Latin America’s Struggle, Garrett Bullock
Redox Properties of the de Novo Designed Due Ferri Single-Chain (G4DFsc) Model Protein, Kailyn Cohen
Communal Reciprocity in the Andes: An Ethnohistorical Approach to the Relationship Between Ayni and Food Production, Catherine Curran
Decision-making, Beliefs, and Personality: Actively Open Minds Versus Cognitive Misers, Nicole Dalasio
Does Using wee-1.3 as a Secondary Suppressor Restore Wildtype Timing of Meiosis and Oocyte Maturation in pam-1 C. elegans Mutants?, Caprice Eisele
GFAP Expression of Radial Glial Cells of the Regenerating Spinal Cord of Axolotls, Erin Fowler
The Meritocratic Fallacy of Higher Education in America, Amanda Galczyk
Piety and Mayhem: How Extremist Groups Misuse Religious Doctrine to Condone Violence and Achieve Political Goals, Noah Garber
The Case of Kashmir: Ethnic Mobilization and Insurgency, Kayla Hofmann
Toward the Development of a Carbon Nanotube Drug Delivery System for Clarithromycin, Broderick Johnson
Health Care Access for Children in Latinx Immigrant Families in the Greater Philadelphia Area, Sophia King
Working Memory and Attention Deficits During a Letter Number Sequencing Task Post-Concussion, Shannon Kiss
Characterizing the Interaction of MAGUK Scaffold Protein PSD-95 With Synaptic Adhesion Protein Slitrk2, Connor Loomis
Effects of a High Fat Diet on Cardiac Function, Jacob Menzer
Currency Internationalization: The Case of the RMB, Daniel Powell
Measuring Ex Vivo Muscle Contraction Forces in Mus musculus, Oniel Salik
Shattering Glass Ceilings: Where are all of the Women in Finance?, Rebecca Schubach
Examining Permeability and Contractility of Skeletal Muscle in Castrated Male Mice, Evan Scott
La Maladie féminine: Genre, hérédité et milieu dans trois romans d’Émile Zola, Emily Shiplett
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Alters the Number, Not Distribution, of Corridor Cells at Embryonic Day 13.5, Avery Sicher
The Comparison of Endothelial Permeability at 48 Hours Post Skeletal Muscle Injury in Male and Female Mice at Various Ages, Sabrina Tusavitz
Investigating the Cellular Control and Biological Consequences of Prion Formation in Yeast, Richard Wike
The Transition of Guanyin: Reinterpreting Queerness and Buddha Nature in Medieval East Asia, Robert Wilf
Stock Market Drivers: Corporate Share Repurchases, Parker Wolf
Is Tuition Free College the Golden Ticket? A Time Series Analysis of Germany’s Higher Education Policy, 1990-2017, Hannah Wolfram
Theses/Dissertations from 2019
Effect of Plant Biodiversity on Insect Pests in a Forage Agroecosystem, Gabriella R. Altmire
Politics, Protest and Patience: Gendered Rights and Human Security in India and South Korea, Anika Backelin-Harrison
The Effects of Circuit Training and Mediterranean Diet on Superoxide Dismutase Levels, Clara Baker
The Relationship Between Racial Color Blindness and Sexual Orientation Blindness Attitudes and Quantity and Quality of Patient Care, Alexa Beacham
Soil Health in Organic and Conventional Vegetable Systems Under Different Tillage Regimes, Kirk R. Cherneskie
Oral Argument Tactics on the Supreme Court Bench: A Comparative Analysis of Verbal Tools Used by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Gorsuch, Corinne Cichowicz
Mediations and Motivations of Attachment-Dependent Self-Recovery Post-Dissolution, Morgan A. Cope
The Effect of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs on Skeletal Muscle Permeability in Mice, Maxwell L. Coulter
Towards the Rational Design of Photoinduced Electron Transfer (PET)-based Fluorescent Probes, Julia Dorsheimer
Early Post-Partum Changes in the Murine Heart, Matthew Douglas
Bringing Business Back to the Ballpark, David Drea
