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 2021
Socrates and the Divine Mission of Political Friendship, Ronahn I. Clarke
Should We Pool or Should We Nationalize? A Quantitative Assessment of the Role of Sovereignty in Brexit, Alexa K. Urmaza
Honors Theses from 2020
Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Bitter Taste Perception and Influence on Food and Drink Preferences, Maria K. Armillei
Modeling Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Spread Throughout the Northeast with Updated Parameter Values, Jamie A. Attanasio
Effects of Exposure to Chinese Imports on School Spending and Revenue from Property Tax, Yilei Bao
Ground to a Halt: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding U.S. Government Shutdowns, Ian R. Baum
Creating Dynamic Spaces: Exploring Student-Empowered Self-Expression through Art, Meghan E. Charest
Blessings and Burdens: Family Planning in the Rural South, Amber D. Churchwell
The Impact of Climate Change on the Migration Phenology of New England’s Anadromous River Herring and American Shad, Charles K. Cobb
Québécois, malgré nous : Naissance et évolution d’une identité québécoise dans trois romans de Réjean Ducharme, Serrat David
How Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender Shape Feelings of Competition within the Pre-Med Department at a Small Liberal Arts College, Amanda B. Deming
Data-Driven Automatic Dance Improvisation in 2D, Yitong Deng
Measuring Differential Forest Growth in the Sheepscot River Headwaters with Bitemporal Lidar, Soren Denlinger
Impacts of a Movie's Rivals' Releasing Decisions on its Domestic Box Office Revenue, Yuanyuan Dong
Naloxone Access and Opioid Use: A Theoretical Analysis, Caroline Dunsby
Palestinian? Israeli? Both?: Analyzing Citizenship Experience among Israel’s Palestinians, Iliana S. Eber
Identifying Metabolites as Markers of Fatigue in Athletes, Christopher D. George
Spectroscopic Characterization of Atmospheric Aerosol Particle Mimics, Hayley Elizabeth Gibson
Abraham Lincoln, the United States, and Mexico: The Implications of Memory in a Continental History, Emilie E. Ginn
All The President’s Men? Politicization and Executive Control over the Rulemaking Process, Josh Goldberg
Give ME a Choice: Perceptions of Freedom and the Anti-Vax Movement in Maine, Louisa Goldman
Assessing a Two-Hit Model of Schizophrenia: Prenatal choline deficiency and induced hypofunction of NMDA receptors in male and female Long Evans rats, Samuel Gray and Samuel W. Gray
Comunidad, antigüedad y solidaridad Ser gay en el tardofranquismo 1969-1978, Andrew Healy
Quantum Defect Measurements for High Angular Momentum Rydberg States of Potassium, Abraham Hill
The “Humanitarian Mystique:” Tracing the Rhetoric and Politics of Aid in Southeast Asia from the Age of the Civilizing Mission to the Present, Elizabeth M. Holland
The Art of Sore Losing: The Effect of Outsider Candidates on the Democratic Nomination System, Cassidy Holzer
Environmental Impacts of Oil Spills: Weathering, Emissions, and Atmospheric Processing of Crude Oil, Hannah Q. Karp
Massachusetts Chapter 70 Education Equity Funding in Policy and Practice, Julia E. Kostro
Food System Resilience in the Face of COVID-19: A Study of Maine’s Food Sovereignty Movement, Hania M. Lincoln Lenderking
Acoso Visual: Staring Back at the State and Gender Conformity, Juan Luna
The Residential Location Choices of Chabad Households: An analysis of decision making with non-price constraints, Chasity A. McFadden
Executive Function Deficit as a Precursor to Memory Impairments in hApoE4 Transgenic Rats, Kaitlin McManus
Hipersexualizada, exotificada y controlada La mujer negra en Las palmeras en la nieve, Bonje NA Obua
Pressure through Economics: Assessing the Effectiveness of US Policy across Shifting Geopolitical Contexts, Hailey Reed
Propaganda y progreso: el rol paradójico de la magia en la España premoderna, Alexander K. Rhodes
Projecting regions of North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, habitat suitability in the Gulf of Maine in 2050, Camille Ross
La PMA pour toutes : comment l'histoire et la société façonnent la médecine et la bioéthique en France, Lauren A. Ruddy
Diversity, Bias, and Student Outcomes, Amanda J. Schmidt
Politiques pronatalistes au Vietnam : Le fardeau de la colonisation française, Tessa D. Schrupp
After School Programs and Their Effect on Children's Well-Being, John Steenrod
The Intersections of Divorce, Poverty, and Domestic Abuse, Tara Strelevitz
"They Shall be a Kosmos:" Alexander Von Humboldt and the Ecopoetics of Walt Whitman, Benjamin Theyerl
Development and validation of gene delivery methods for Crassostrea virginica, Adrienne N. Tracy
Ending the Spanish Exception: Explaining the Rise of Vox, Ethan J. vanderWilden
Where virtue goes: Stories, Radihika Vu Thanh Vy
Google Search Sentiment and Sector ETF Performance, Andrew J. Williamson
Honors Theses from 2019
Game Theory in Cricket, Shabab Ahmed
The Impacts of Discrimination on Mental and Physical Health, Mahal Alvarez-Backus
The New White Moderate: Bearing Witness to the Differend of Race, Ethan T. Ashley
Finding Obscure Black Hole Growth via Spectral Energy Distribution Modeling, Randall K. Chan
Something Punny to Precede the Colon: Marking Whiteness and Exploring Blackness in Standup Comedy, Andrew DeStaebler
Microadventures: Student-Empowered, Trauma Informed Outdoor Learning Projects, Jennifer Lyn Flaumenhaft
Synthesis of Oxacalix[2]arene[2]naphthalimides and Exploration of Anion-Pi Interactions for Colorimetric Fluoride Sensing, Joseph A. Forzano
The Enbridge Line 3 Replacement Pipeline: Attitudes, Symbolism, and Geography, Catherine W. Fraser
Precariedad en la pantalla: El género fílmico de la crisis española, Lauren M. Grant
A Rethinking of Gray Asexuality: What do we Learn from an Undefinable Identity?, Jason M. Gurevitch
On Writing and Righting History: The Stakes of Holocaust Interpretation and Remembrance in Poland and the United States, Noa Gutow-Ellis
Do Global Cities Make Green Cities? How Global Governance Impacts Transportation In Bogotá and Medellín, Eleanor Jackson
Tracking the endangered Northern Black Racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor, in Maine to determine areas of conservation importance, Josiah Johnson
Basis Reduction in Lattice Cryptography, Raj Kane
African Savannah Elephant Group Size and Behavior in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, Katherine S. King
Electoral Dysfunction: Assessing State Electoral Laws and Turnout in Presidential Elections, Ellie S. Krossa
Comparing the management of ADHD in the United States and Vietnam: A Cross-Cultural Exploration, Nguyen Nhat Thu Le
Generation and Reactions of Cyclopropyl Vinylidene Carbenes, Nguyen Nhat Thu Le
Investigating the effect crime has on Uber and Yellow Taxi pickups in NYC, Kebing Li
Car Image Classification Using Deep Neural Networks, Mingchen Li
Asian Jumping Worm (Megascolecidae) Impacts on Physical and Biological Characteristics of Turfgrass Ecosystems, Ella L. Maddi
Detecting Cyanobacteria Toxins: The Human Health Impact of an Environmental Problem, Lillian E. Naimie
Characterization of DNA-Protein Crosslinks formed by Epichlorohydrin, Tenzin Passang
Addressing Local Food Inequity: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project in the Alternative High School in Waterville, Maine, Aanavi Patodia
We're Having A Moment, Sophia Pelosi
Beyond the Gates: Admissions in an Elite Schooling Context, Jamie Pine
Bouncing Back: The Impact of Personality on Sports-Related Injury, Rehabilitation, and Recovery, Samantha Rizzo
Pickles and Pastrami: The Core of the American Jew, Theo Satloff
Mapping Food Access in Waterville, Maine, Katherine R. Senechal
Algorithmic Surveillance: A Hidden Danger in Recognizing Faces, Lydia F. Venditti, Jim Fleming, and Kara Kugelmeyer
Assessing the Invasive Potential of Najas minor in Maine, Kaitlin M. Volk
Development of a Chemical Genetic Screen to Identify Compounds that Enhance Laromustine Cytotoxicity, Xiaoou Wang
Primes in Arithmetical Progression, Edward C. Wessel
Historical Patterns and Future Projections of Asian Elephant Habitat Suitability, Tiffany Wu
Evaluating the Iron Geochemistry of Terrestrial Aerosol Sources to the Subarctic Pacific Ocean, Meg Yoder
Developing a Predictive and Dynamic Moose-vehicle Collisions Model in Maine, Yue Yu
Honors Theses from 2018
From Forced to Voluntary Participation: The History of Biomedical Human Experimentation in the United States after the Second World War, Haley L. Andonian
What the Walls Say: Finding Meaning and Value in Tel Aviv’s Street Art, Rachel R. Bird
Compositional Craft and Theory Across Tonal Languages, Liam Butchart
DISC1 knockout rats reveal sexually dimorphic patterns of impairment across development, Stephanie S. Desrochers
Sacrifice, Benefit, and Reciprocity: Evidence from a Trust Game, Mirco Dinelli
Welcome To Europe? Consequences of the EU-Turkey Deal for Refugees Contained on Lesvos, Julia Endicott
GEOCHEMICAL DIFFERENCES IN CALCIC HORIZONS DUE TO PARENT MATERIAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC WATER INPUT IN SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA, Alicia Fischer
From Antagonists to Protagonists: Muslims on the Hollywood Screen, Brooke K. Gentry
The Colby Community in World War I, Eleanor A. Hanson
Is It a Dragon? No, It's a Salamander. The Supreme Court's Effort to Slay the Partisan Gerrymander, Tim Harris
The Identification and Application of Generalizable Spatial Patterns of Human-Wildlife Conflict, Vivian F. Hawkinson
Drawing Borders: Images, Representation, and (In)Visibility of Migrants on the Balkan Route, Nora Hill
Parametric Polynomials for Small Galois Groups, Claire Huang
When You Meet Me Again: A Novel, Jacob O. Hyatt