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, has the opportunity to publish their project in Digital Commons so that it may be made available to the Colby community and to the world at large.
Honors Theses from 2009
Bird of Paradise, Brianna N. Kondrat
The Effect of Glutamate on Neurite Outgrowth in Fiddler Crab (Uca pugilator) X-organ Cells, Ruth B. Langton
Romantic Representations: The intercultural translation of body and commodity in Orientalist discourse, Ellen J. London
Avoiding the Fog of Crisis: A Protocol for the Proper Domestic Use of the Military, Brian Lynch
Evaluation of Nocturnal Flight Calls as a Useful Tool in the Study of Avian Migration, Andrew C. McEvoy
Gender Specific Rules in Sport are based on an Outdated Idea of Femininity, Carlie Minichino
Break the Sky: an exploration of ethics with swords and superheroes, Kris Miranda
Tintinnabulation, A Collection of Poetry, Brookes W. Moody
The Blue Hour, Elizabeth K. O'Neill
The Long Game: Hamas, The IRA, and the Politics of Radicalization in Palestine and Northern Ireland, Dan O'Sullivan
Shedding Spectatorship: An Examination of Immersion in Experience in the Travel and Art Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, Lauren M. Pongan
The Effects of Eating Behaviors and Exercise Patterns on the Processing of Food and Exercise Related Stimuli, Carrie Potter
One Generation Consuming the Next: The Racial Critique of Consumerism in George Romero’s Zombie Films, Henry Powell
Diagnostics for Ultracold Plasma Experiments, Lauren Rand
Can Parallel Exchange Rates Forecast Commodity Prices?, John F. Roberts
Learning the Lay of Their Land: Data Recording by Maine Land Trusts, Patrick John Roche
Factors Influencing Conservation Success or Failure in Tiger Range States, Megan C. Saunders
Antibiotics, Herbs, and Magic: Health Practices in Contemporary St. Petersburg, Christine Shu
The Realization of Eisenstein's Excitation Factor: Grierson, Wiseman, and the Vietnam Documentaries of the 1960s and 1970s, Victoria A. Starr
The Metaphysical Underpinnings Contemporary Attitudes in Consumerism: An Pontification?, Jason Stigliano
The Second Oldest Profession: An Exploration of the Fall and Rise of Midwifery in America, Abigail K. Sussman
Negotiating Gender and Lyric Tradition in Two Nineteenth Century Cultures, Po Yin Wong
Emily Dickinson and Wu Zao: Negotiating Gender and Lyric Traditionin Two Nineteenth-Century Cultures, Po Yin Wong
Honors Theses from 2008
Competition or Community? Manifest and Unexpressed Functions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Sara Benjamin
Coalitions for victory: the necessity of alliance creation for progressive ballot initiative campaigns, Julie Bero
In the Absence of Family: How Ideas of the Substitute Family in Honduran Children's Homes Shape Perception of the Needs of at-risk youth, Stephanie Bowman
Moments of Strength: Iranian Women's Rights and the 1979 Revolution, Caroline M. Brooks
Effects of the anticancer agent Cloretazine on human apurinic endonuclease-1 activity, Jennifer L. Bushee
Effect of Observed Biological and Non-biological Movement on Human Action and Coordination, Walter L. Campbell
Historical Records of Stomatal Indicies in Quercus from the Southeastern U.S, Bradford M. Cantor
Investigating the Effects of Mifepristone (RU486) in the Behavioral, Hormonal and Central Responses to Acute Stress, Aynara Chávez Muñoz
Diffeomorphism invariance in general relativity, John P. Chung
Designing a Green Graduation at Colby College, Alaina J. Clark
A collection of short stories titled: 'Our Pompeii', Elizabeth O. Clark
The Selective Synthesis of Oxacalix[6]arenes and the Exploration of Azacalix[n]arenes, W. Christian Crannell
Self-destructive Behaviors of Adolescent Girls and Boys, Carolyn A. Curtis
The Effect of Orientation to Growing Season Sunlight on Stomatal Parameters of Q. rubra in the Belgrade Lakes Region, Central Maine, Rachel G. Daly
William Blake’s Transatlantic Vision of Power and Agency, Charles H. Eichacker
Hamiltonian constraint analysis of vector field theories with spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking, Nolan L. Gagne
Search for novel molecular species formed by cold Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap, Alexander Gill
A brief history of medical radiation: from cancer-causing to cancer treatment, Madeline A. Given
Decisions to abrogate personal liberty: ethics of conscription in the United States, Jacqueline Shuttleworth Grady
Photochemical Generation and Intramolecular Chemistry of β-Alkoxycarbenes, Kimberly Graves
The Penguins' Revolution: An Analysis of Student Response to the Multi-Dimensional Chilean Educational Crisis, Abigail Hall
Language of Sex: Moral Socialization and Reproductive Education in Public Schools, Melyn Heckelman
State Political Action Committee Financing and the 2008 Presidential Election: A Detailed Look at Mitt Romney and the Commonwealth PACs, Melyn Heckelman
Reactions of Atomic Carbon with Acid Chlorides, Daniel B. Herrick
Foundations and interpretations of quantum mechanics, Cory Johnson
Rhythm in This Life: A Collection of Poetry, Maya E. Klauber
Separating People and Wildlife: Zoning as a Conservation Strategy for Large Carnivores, Courtney L. Larson
Temperature and magnetic field dependence of the electronic excitations in the nickel chain compound NINO, Lucas LaViolet
Movement patterns and feeding behavior of the limpet tectura testudinalis (Müller) along the mid-Maine Coast, Joshua Lord
Microhabitat Selection by the Tortoiseshell Limpet, Tectura testudinalis (Müller), in Tide Pools on the mid-Maine Coast, Emily R. Lyczkowski
Effects of Alcohol and Training on Exercise Performance and Muscle Recovery Biochemistry in the Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei), MaryClaire McGovern
Diepoxybutane and epibromohydrin bend DNA towards the major groove, Erin McGowan
Louisa May Alcott and the Little Woman, Allison S. Michalski
The Pollination Biology and Mating System of a Peripheral Population of Witheringia solanacea (Solanaceae), Timothy Miller
Pressure Perturbation Calorimetry and Guest-Host Chemistry of NDMG and N-MAP with p-Sulfonatocalix[6]arene, Cassandra Newell
Carbon Neutrality at Colby College, Jamie K. O’Connell
Moral Philosophy in 20th Century Legal Dramas, Emily M. Parker
Phosphorus Primer for Maine’s lakes, Lindsay B. Philips
Inhibition of cellular thioredoxin reductase by the anticancer prodrug cloretazine, Tyler R. Schleicher
Stock Markets and Household Wealth: Can a Stock Market Crash Cause a Recession in The U.S. Economy?, Ishan Singh
Representations of Grief in Akhmatova’s Requiem and Pushkin’s the Bronze Horseman, Hillary R. Smith
An Incumbent's Guide to Reelection: The States and Economic Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections, Kyle Smith
Stranger in a Strange Land: The struggle for cultural and personal identity in Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Laura E. Smith
"System of Silence": Philadelphia Orphanages and the Limits of Benevolence, 1780s-1830s, Brian Sweeney
Poisonous Books and Corrupting Influences: Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, Jessie C. Tang
Demographic Differences in Household Expenditure for Low-Income Families: Evidence from the United States, Joerose Tharakan
Advocating at the margins: women’s NGOs in China, Ling U
Interactions of Electrons and Rydberg Atoms in Ultra-Cold Plasmas, Cristian Vesa
Effects of context of natural and artifactual objects on categorization, Linsey Walker
Cytotoxicity of Diepoxybutane and Epichlorohydrin in Relation to Stages of the Cell Cycle, Megan L. Watts
Diode Lasers for use in experiments on cold Rydberg Atoms, Bill Whitledge
Using Variable Stomatal Sensitivity to CO₂ in Relict Conifers to Reconstruct Ancient Atmospheres and Predict Future Implications of Climate Change, Kerry A. Whittaker
Riley’s Story, Juliana N. Wilson
Honors Theses from 2007
Can the business cycle be used to create predictable mutual fund outperformance?, Michael Aquino
Where did all these books come from? The Publishing Industry and American Intellectual Life, Maro N. Asadoorian
Agent of Change: Trickster in Ojibwa Oral Narratives and in the Works of Louise Erdrich, Patrick B. Benton
Towards the Synthesis of Biomimetic Tungsten Complexes, Eric Paul Bergh
Antarctica – Poems by Jessica Bernhard, Jessica Bernhard
Biogeochemical model for the eutrophication of East Pond, Maine, Bernadette Bibber
Carry the Fire or the Sunset Limited: Determinism and the Illusion of Free Will in the Works of Cormac McCarthy, Peter Carty
Home: A Collection of Short Stories, Allison E. Cole
Rawls and Health Care, Elizabeth H. Coogan
Gauguin : Generating Art Using Genetic Algorithms & User Input Naturally, Thomas E. Cook
“Nothing that is so, is so”: Indeterminate Language in Shakespeare, Matthew K. Crane
The Destablilization of Gender & Religious Identity in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Megan Deeley
Geographic distribution of genetic Variation in the Rare Orchid Isotria medeoloides , Emily Devlin
Divergent effect of social cohesion on economic growth in East Asia and Latin America, Horacio Diaz Adda
Messy Love: Collection of Short Stories, Mindy Favreau
What Changes a Person – A Collection of Short Stories, Mindy Favreau
Apple and The Tree: Shakespeare’s Use of Father-child Relationships in Character Construction, Elizabeth Finn
Photojournalistic Manipulations of Reality: The Power Over Knowledge, Valerie Friedman
Women Making Progress?: a Study of Wide Sargasso Sea as a Response to Jane Eyre, Kaitlin M. Gangl
Was Austen a Pro-Feminist? Education In Austen’s Novels, Anna Gillespie
Concomitant polymorphism in 1,2-bis(9-anthryl)acetylene, Rebecca Goldstein