The Honors Thesis is a research project for which eligible students apply during their junior year and complete in their senior year. Colby departments and programs that have an honors program establish the requirements for the project and its final format. Each student, upon completion of the thesis, is asked to archive his or her project in Digital Commons so that it may be made available to the Colby community and to the world at large.
Honors Theses from 2018
African-American Poetry, Music, and Politics, Tyler H. Macdonald
Honors Theses from 2017
Chow's Theorem, Yohannes D. Asega
“La Política del Avestruz”: The Regulation of the Black Market for Medical Abortion in Chile, Sophia M. Bartels
Temporal changes in the larval Placopecten magellanicus population in a small-scale fishery closure area in coastal Maine, USA, Jessica P. Batchelder
The Anonymous Truth: Honesty and Hostility in Public and Private Online Settings, Grace S. Carroll
Failure or Adjustment?: An Analysis of the Slowing Growth of the Chinese Economy, Kay G. DeGraw
Protein Kinase Activity Toward TaABF1 in Imbibing Grains, Taylor P. Enrico
Going beyond the Big Five: The Dark Triad, DSM-5, and prediction of normal and abnormal outcomes, Shanna Grant
Tying the Knot: Applications of Topology to Chemistry, Tarini S. Hardikar
Normal Surfaces and 3-Manifold Algorithms, Josh D. Hews
Franco, Pedro y El género, Kaleigh E. Hoffman
Small Town, Big Future: Preparing Rural Maine Students For College, Elizabeth C. Huber
Earth, Body, and Spirit: Radical Motherhood and the Female Voice in So Far From God, Kiana Kawamura
Women, War, and Social Memory in Peru: The Posthumous Careers of Edith Lagos and María Elena Moyano, Meghan Kelly
Some Examples of the Interplay Between Algebra and Topology, Joseph D. Malionek
CICIG in Guatemala: The Institutionalization of an Anti-Corruption Body, Greg M. Morano
Correcting Pedestrian Dead Reckoning with Monte Carlo Localization Boxed for Indoor Navigation, Akira T. Murphy
Social Class Identity Development and Elite Schools, Sarah Peck
Vein patterning during juvenile wing development in Oncopeltus fasciatus and Jadera haematoloma, William R. Simmons
Constructing (Hu)man Nature: A Feminist Critique of Western IR Theory, Liberal Economics and U.S. Foreign Policy, Nadia Stovicek
America's National Parks and the Anthropocene: Addressing the Present to Accommodate the Future in Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz
Dear Reader, How Do We Go On? Letters of Reflection on Community Care in Climate Activism in Maine, Ester Topolarova
From Coffee Shops to Dog Walks : Cultural Consequences of Neoliberal Gentrification, Diversity, and “Inclusive” Planning in Boston’s South End, Aliza K. Van Leesten
It’s not you, it’s— Hookup Culture and Sexual Subjectivity, Anne Vetter
Crops and Controversy: Industry’s Role in the GMO Debate, Carina Wallack
Visions for Waterville's Future: Perceptions of its Residents, Alex Wolansky
Shifts in Thermal Habitats in the Gulf of Maine under Climate Change: A Case Study on American Lobster, Xinyi Zheng
Honors Theses from 2016
Resonant Collisions of Potassium Atoms, Philip Michael Adamson
Don't Know, Do Not Resuscitate: A Principle for the Creation of the Kingdom of Ends in the ICU, Griffen Isaac Allen
Investigation of Biological, Sociological, and Statistical Factors Contributing to the Emergence and Spread of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in West Africa, Alexandra Anne Bishop
Police Impunity in Mexico: Creating Openings for Justice in a New Democracy, Emily Boyce
The Effect of Temperature on the Supply and Demand for the American Lobster (Homarus americanus) in the State of Maine, Gaby E. Carpenter
Park Politics: Political Influences on Frederick Law Olmsted & the Creation of Central Park, Kathryn Chow
Structure and Function of Melatonin Receptors in Arthropods: A Computational Approach, James W. Connelly IV
Analyzing Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment in Kasungu, Malawi, Andrew Currier
Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Irruptive Fringillid Movements, Paul J. Dougherty
A Failure to Cooperate: Why Canada, the United States, and Mexico have not Developed a Regional Energy Strategy, Timothy Dutton
There and Back Again: The Enchanted Otherworlds of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Sir Orfeo Prefiguring the Structure of Disenchantment, Andrew D. Finn
Negotiating Order in State-Funded Care: Examining the Salience of Sponsoring Agencies in Maine's School-Based Health Centers, Susan M. Fleurant
Are the Brain and the Mind One? Neuromarketing and How Consumers Make Decisions, Emily Glaenzer
Global Reach, Local Markets: The Challenges of Leading Global Innovation, Sarah Higgins
Health Care Agency: Statewide Awareness of Patient-Centered Care in Maine’s Mental Health Care Facilities, Holly Hogan A
Assessing LakeSmart: The Development and Effectiveness of a Lake Protection Program, Alexa A. E. Junker
Using Genetic Algorithms to Evolve Artificial Neural Networks, William T. Kearney
Phenanthrene...With a Twist!, Nicholas S. Kim
Human Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 2B (CHMP2B) Causes Deficits in Morning Circadian Activity when Expressed in Drosophila Clock Neurons, Christopher Krasniak
Campaigning on YouTube: Messaging and Online Communication in the 2016 Presidential Nomination Process, Abraham Krieger
Devising Performance & Queer Futurity, Brendan F. Leonard
Multiple introductions as a trigger for invasive behavior of introduced pin oak (Quercus palustris) in central Maine, Juvenal Lopez
Shifting Baselines of Iconic Marine Species in the Caribbean, Samantha Lovell
Arts and Elite Schooling: The Accumulation of Advantaging Forms of Cultural Capital, Hannah R. Macquarrie
Part I: Photochemical Generation of Cyclohexyne from a Hydrocarbon Precursor Part II: A Triptycenyl Flower, Daniel Maurer
Detecting Stock Market Bubbles: A Price-to-Earnings Approach, Austin F. Murphy
Alexander the Great Cultural Chameleon: Changing Character & Purpose Over Time, Eva Neczypor
The Impact of Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals on Wildlife Conservation, Eda Reed
Ecological predictors and consequences of non-native earthworms in Kennebec County, Maine, Julia Rogers
The Effect of Cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia echinulata in the Belgrade Lakes, Maine, Harriet T. Rothschild
Entering Into Dialogue with Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer
The Voluntourism Encounter: Affect, Discomfort, and Transformation in Yaxunah, Caroline Tegeler
The Historical Ecology of Queensland’s Australian Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), Emily M. Walker
Environmental contingency of seed-fungi interactions in coexisting invasive purple loosestrife and native cattail, Shayla R. Williams
Experimental and Computational Study of Methylphenylvinylidene and Its Rearrangements, Xi Yang
Honors Theses from 2015
The Growing Crisis in Maine: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Olivia Avidan
Sociological Effects of Wind Farms in Maine, Jeanne E. Barthold and Jeanne Barthold
Mobilization and Resignation: Argentine Riparian Community Responses to the Proposed Garabí and Panambí Hydroelectric Dams, Carolyn Bennett
Beer Stein Poem, True Poem, Sick Poem, Erotic Poem, and Other Poems, Margaret Bower
Analysis of Post-‐Earnings-‐Announcement Market Reactions: Is There Still a Delayed Price Response and Can it Be Exploited?, Nils Carlson
ACL Injuries in Female Athletes: Are Prevention Programs the Answer?, Brooke Chandor
Institutions, Distance, and Foreign Direct Investment, Charles Coffman
Experimental and Computational Investigation of Selected β-Hydroxy Carbenes, Joseph D. DeAngelo
Cost Effectiveness of Renewable Energy Policy on Military Installations, Zachary L. Esakof
A Constellation of Caring: The Dynamic and Fluctuating Nature of Pediatric Cancer Care, Anne Friedrich
The Destabilization of Hierarchy: Counter-hegemonic Attitudes in Works by Herman Melville, Morgan C. Gallagher
Co-Authorship in Action: Curation & Collaboration in American post-Judson Dance, Sara Gibbons
The Importance of Fitting In: Drinker Status, Social Inclusion, and Well-Being in College Students, Molly B. Hodgkins
Assessing the Carbon Impacts of Colby College’s Biomass Plant, Alice Hotopp
Queering the Production of Sexual Knowledge: Narrative Strategies, Gender Politics and the Promise of Feminist Focus Groups, Madeline J. Hunsicker
Reputation Effects and Hedonic Pricing at the Portland Fish Exchange, Kush Jadeja
"Trying to Resurrect People": Musical Theater and Theater for Social Change in Witness Uganda, Emilie Jensen
La (re)imaginación de una ruta milenaria: El Camino de Santiago en el modelaje de una espiritualidad moderna, Benjamin Lester
The Central Hankel Transform, Matthew J. Levine
Quantization of Analysis, Kelvin K. Lui
Quantum Effects in Gravity: The Ambiguous Vacuum, Kelvin K. Lui
The Stimulatory Effects of Acute Ethanol Exposure on the Innate Immune System of Zebrafish (Danio rerio), Paul C. Macklis
Announcement effects of convertible debt: Do firm and market characteristics affect the magnitude of abnormal stock returns?, Charles N. Madden
School Gardens: Cultivating a Child’s Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, and Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer
Mathematical modeling of Emiliania huxleyi and a host-specific virus, Julia Middleton
Nurturing Environmental Literacy at Colby College: Higher Education and the Environmental Crisis, Molly Nash
Market Microstructure and Abnormal Returns: An Analysis of NYSE and SGX Securities, Alex Ng
Bridging The Divide: The Religious and the Secular at Colby College, James O'Leary
Inequality and Involvement: Participatory Trends in the Politics of a Rural Maine Town, Shelby O'Neill