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Members of the Class of 2014 and their senior thesis topics, alphabetically by department.

Africana Studies

  • Marlon Bascombe, The Relationship Between Class and Race at Elite Colleges
  • Nanyamka-Keyane Fleming, Understanding the Other Woman: An Analysis of Black Female Portrayal in Legal Television
  • “J.R.” Jennifer Roberts, Queer(y)ing the Rainbow Nation: Exploring the Sociocultural Implications of South Africa's Civil Union Act on Black Lesbians
     

Asian Studies

  • Juana Gonzalez, A Look into Ethnic Korean Identity in Japan: A Brief History of Japanese and Korean Events and Analysis of Zainichi Film GO
  • Trang (Tracy) Le, Cruel Story of Youth: A Look at Japan’s Isolated Youths through Film
     

Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

  • Niko Wagner, Designing an Expression Plasmid for Tyramine-β Hydroxylase Related Protein
  • Jennifer Baxter and Helen Farrell, Detection and Identification of Endogenous Electron Shuttles in Dissimilatory Metal Reducing Bacteria
  • Kelly Jenkins, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Health
  • Gina Goldberg and Rob Hayden, Piscidin Binding to Bacterial DNA: A Novel Mechanism of Action
  • Michael Bianco and Holly Turula, Generation of a cDNA Library from Full-Length mRNA Transcripts of Ichthyphthirius multifiliis
  • Kim Bogardus, Pore Formation and Membrane-Binding Effects of Piscidins 1 and 3 in Bacterial Membrane Mimics
  • Tori Bogen, Examining the Mechanism of Pore Formation of Piscidin 1 in Cancer Cell Membrane Mimics
  • Luis Santos, Modeling the Biosynthesis Pathway of Octopamine
  • Jeremy Brendle, Thermodynamic Investigations of Piscidins 1 and 3 Bound to Cell Membrane Mimics
     

Biology

  • Claire Barton, The Effects of Perinatal Exposure to Bisphenol A on Adiposity in Mice
  • David Borczuck, Determining the composition of murine gut microbiota throughout varying stages of obesity
  • Andraya Cole, The Effects of Metformin on Weight, Hyperglycemia and Hyperinsulinemia in db/db Mice
  • Margaret Doolin and Matt Peterfreund, Temperature-induced seasonal polyphenism in the orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme)
  • Felipe Garcia, Relationship between the Giant Madagascar Hissing-Cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa, and the mite, Gromphadorholaelaps schaeferi
  • Aaron Geiduschek, Construction of conditional Snf2 allele to control intergenic SRG1 transcription and SER3 repression in S. cerevisiae
  • Katheryn Goldman, An Exploration of Ascorbic Acid Synthesis in Drosophila melanogaster and Manduca sexta
  • Rachel Green, Assessment of the microbial assemblage composition in sediments of Green Lake using next generation sequencing
  • Allison Hall and Graham Boyd, Type 1 diabetes control through immune system manipulation
  • Danielle Haswell and Matt Vail, Exploring a Bugs Life; Learning and Memory in Manduca sexta
  • Halley Hayman, Trap Crops: testing the efficacy of intercropping as a non-chemical form of pest management in a greenhouse environment
  • Victoria Hull, The effect of Alliaria petiolata on macroinvertebrate detritivore communities at Hamilton College
  • Salome Kuchuckhidze, The ecology of Lyme disease: effect of Japanese barberry and Amur honeysuckle microenvironment on black-legged tick distribution
  • Jessica Li, Exploring mitochondrial dynamics of Tetrahymena thermophila
  • Daniel Lichtenauer, Characterization of a sub-chemocline microbial biofilm in Green Lake (Fayetteville, NY)
  • Hannah Lyons and Emma Taccardi, Determining the occurrence of apoptosis in the endocardial tubes of the chick embryo
  • Abigail Martin and Julia Gelissen, Investigating the Hygiene Hypothesis Using an Intestinal Helminth and a Streptozotocin Model of Type I Diabetes in Mice
  • Madison Molho and Kristen Insardi, The effect of exercise on the rate of wound healing and scar tissue development in male mice
  • Ashley Perritt, An Exploration of Tyramine β-Hydroxylase-Related Protein Function
  • Doug Santoro, The Effects of Invasive Garlic Mustard on Soil Nematode Communities in Hamilton College Forests
  • Panos Tamvakologos, Genetic screen for mutations in PAF1 that are defective for SER3 transcription
  • Jill Tokarczyk and Alice Grant, Apoptosis in mice placenta
  • Joe Wagner, Molecular Characterization of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis
  • Don Wells, Selection of Suppressors of Histone H3K122A Mutant
  • Emily Winters, Effects of Japanese barberry and Amur honeysuckle on tick host distribution and Borrelia burgdorferi incidence in ticks
  • Sam Zimmerman, Developing a new pipeline to reassemble the genome of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis

Chemical Physics

  • Christopher Whiting, Early work toward a transition metal-catalyzed transannular hydroamination synthesis of pyrrolizidine alkaloids
     

Chemistry

  • Peter Campbell, Excitation and Emission Dynamics in Upconverting Lanthanide-Doped Nanophosphors
  • Jill Chipman, Spin Networks of Polyoxometalate – Organic Hybrids
  • Philip Conkling, Polyoxotungstates and –molybdates: Introduction of LindqvistGadolinium(III) Complexes
  • Gabrielle Fleming, Radical-Mediated Ring Expansion via Nickel Catalyzed Suzuki Coupling at 2° Alkyl Halides
  • Cam Ha, Synthesis of Cryptomaldamide and Derivatives: Towards the Enhancement of their Anticancer Activity
  • Tara Hansen, Alpha Fetoprotein (AFP) Peptidomimetics as Anticancer Agents
  • Shakil Hossain, Carbon Linkers for the Alpha-Fetoprotein Peptidomimetics
  • Hannah Jaiven, Luminescence Behavior of Sol-Gel-Derived Hybrid Materials Resulting from Covalent Grafting of a Chromophore Unit to Different Organically Modified Alkoxysilanes
  • Leah Krause, A Study of the Trajectories of InfluenzaNeuraminidase Binding using MM/GBSA FreeEnergy Calculations
  • Daniel Mermelstein, Investigation of Oseltamivir Binding Kinetics to N1 Influenza Neuraminidase
  • Clare O’Grady, The development, implementation, and assessment of a molecular docking laboratory exercise in Chem 125 and 270
  • Christopher Richardson, Explorations Toward a Tandem Dowd Beckwith Ring Expansion and Subsequent Suzuki Cross Coupling
  • Duy Vo, Radical-driven Suzuki Cross Coupling of an Alkyl Halide, Olefin, and Vinyl Boronic Acid
  • Kaitlyn Weinert-Stein, A straightforward approach for construction of indolizidines via transannular hydroamination
     

Chinese

  • John Angarola, The Origins of Modern Chinese Identity: An Analysis of Hu Shi and Lu Xun’s Interpretations of Ibsen
  • Alexandra Crivelli, The Relationship between Gao Xingjian’s Plays and Chinese Society in the 1980’s
  • Sarah Dempsey, Interpreting Plastic Surgery Consumption Among Chinese Women as a Manifestation of Internalized Racism
  • Robert Howe, The Appropriation of Chinese Culture through Western Tattoos
  • Michelle Lee, Western Perspective on Chinese Medicine
  • Daniel Mesa, The Development of Economic Relations Between China and Latin America. Is Latin America too dependent on China?
  • Amanda Ng, The Representation of the Female Identity in Chinese Popular Music
  • Joseph Roy, What is the Chinese Dream?
  • Graham Sadler, South China Sea Sovereignty Disputes
  • Mitchell Scher, Development and Current State of the Chinese Space Industry
  • Melissa Segura, Gender Discrimination in Chinese TV advertisements
  • Isabelle Tan, The euphoric rise of luxury consumption in China and its influence on the economy, society and culture
  • Kim Wang, Linguistic Purism in the Chinese and French Language
     

Communication

  • Patrick Bedard, Driving Change in Consumer Attitudes: Agenda Setting Theory and CSR Reporting in the Automotive Industry
  • Erica Berg, 8 to 10 on Thursdays: Emerging Narratives in a Bereavement Support Group at Hamilton College
  • Sabrina Debrosse, Are We There Yet: Conditions of Cross-Cultural Communication in Higher Education
  • Danielle Feigin, “Live From New York:” It's My Thesis!
  • Alex Gioia, Examination of Cognitive Dissonance Theory
  • Laura Herlihy, Political Internet Memes: How Binders Full of Women and Big Bird Can Impact an Election
  • Tara Huggins, “I Can’t, I’m Busy:” Communicating Busyness in Interpersonal Relationships
  • Nayantara Joshi, No Risk, No Reward: The Encouragement of Risk-Taking Amongst Friends
  • Sarah Lasker, More than a Benchwarmer: Examining Communication from Players on the Bench to Players in the Game
  • Morgan Markman, The Role of Communication in Developing Hamilton College Students' Religious Identity
  • Megan McCareins, Africa: Framed by Online Travel Magazines
  • Chelsea Merritt, Interpreting Texts: Decoding Computer-Mediated Messages in Romantic Relationships
  • Jessica Moulite, Admitted, but not Accepted: An Examination of Inclusion and Exclusion at Hamilton College
  • Andrew Nichols, The Persuasive Power of Music in Advertising
  • Leo Nizzi, It’s More Than Just a Sport: A Study on the Influence and Cultural Implications of Soccer
  • Marta Pisera, These Pants Aren't Made For Fat Women": Digital Crisis Communication
  • Elaine Tam, A Power Struggle Through Sexualization in K-Pop
  • Ben Yudysky, If At First You Don’t Succeed, Would You Talk About It? An Investigation of Communicative Behaviors Following Failure
     

Comparative Literature

  • Scott Etkin, City and Psychology in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
  • Kimberly Hughes, Sword and Scabbard: An Exploration of Gender Roles and Relations in Arthurian Legend
  • Lauren Lanzotti, Candles, Heat, and Halos: The Literal “Enlightenment” in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina
  • Margaret Rosenbaum, Novel Abstraction
     

Creative Writing

  • Carolyn Anderson, Westbrook
  • Bradford Child, Tidewater
  • Shannon Cuthbert, Growing Season
  • Sarah Destin, The Awkward Years
  • Annelise Driscoll, Perfect Heaven Space
  • Nicolas Geisler, Dave Is Dead
  • Sam Gold, Stories
  • Rory Keating, Stories
  • Lisa Labate, I Love the Words Dear Violet
  • Meg Lee, Carnival
  • Joe Legault, Impermanence
  • Nathan Livingston, Music Lessons
  • Joe Michaels, Panacea in Panama: Midnight Abroad in Significant Democratic Republics
  • Will Newman, Fledge
  • Nick Pappageorge, Absurdity, Vice, and Everything Nice
  • Sarah Sgro, The Future of Eggs
  • Kina Viola, We Are All Transplants
     

Dance

  • Mike Reyes and McKenzie Foster, One More Time
     

East Asian Languages and Literatures

  • Robert Cowell, Examining the Influence of Daoist Thought in Modern China: A Look at Idioms from the Daodejing
  • Ellen Esterhay, Neoclassical Realist Perspectives on the Sino-Russian Relationship
  • Lucas Hulleberg, Solving Film and Music Piracy Issues in China
  • Prianka Imanudin, Exploring Chinese Peoples Happiness through their Consumption Trends
  • Brendan Mullin, An analysis of Chinas Economic Stability Based on the 2011 Wenzhou Credit Crisis
  • Paul Scarinci, Can The United States Stop Selling Arms To Taiwan
  • Samuel Silverman, How Has the Chinese Automobile Sector Caught Up to the Rest of the World?
  • Mai Tran, Chinese Peoples Acceptance of Homosexuality
  • Melissa Yang, The Role of Women in Jin Yongs Martial Arts Films
     

Economics

  • Eamon Anderson, The determinants of option overhang in publicly traded companies
  • Nicholas Arney, Conspicuous consumption and education
  • Shannon Burke, Differences in educational attainment between public and private high schools
  • Robby Cowell, Financial development, regulation, and the income distribution
  • Claeson Dillon, Business and bureaucrats: The relationship between stock returns and state politics
  • Mao Ding, External debt and economic growth
  • Carolina Geiger, Inequality and growth: How does inequality exacerbate or alleviate conditions that affect economic growth?
  • Rujun Han, Do Google search volumes influence markets’ rewards to risk exposure?
  • Isaac Handley-Miner, What makes college students happy?: A subjective well-being analysis
  • Tara Hansen, Variations in health outcomes and health behaviors across U.S. states
  • John Kennedy, Regional determinants of U.S. urban development
  • Lane Lerner, Insider Intent and the Long-Run Performance of Firms Post Initial Public Offering
  • Max Milder, Educational inequality and income distribution: A cross country analysis
  • Taylor Morris, Structural and cyclical unemployment: Is skill mismatch keeping America unemployed?
  • Brendan Mullin, Household portfolio decisions in China
  • Jacob Schneider, The effect of Super Bowl losses on the mental health and life satisfaction of fans
  • Max Schnidman, The role of virtue in the economics of happiness
  • Melissa Yow, The factors driving US hospital expenditures: An inpatient case study
     

English

  • *Timothy Driscoll, “The work for which thou wast foretold”: Terrorism and Divine Sanction in Milton’s Samson Agonistes
  • *Madison Forsander, A Beautiful Trap: The marriage market, the male gaze, and the performance of beauty in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth
  • *Grace Parker-Zielinski, “Gatherers of Flowers” and Introductions to “Greatness and Variety”: Anthologists’ Roles in the Formation and Interpretation of the Canon
  • *Abigail Saks, Color Theory in Tess of the D’Urbervilles: The Elicitation of Sympathy through a Verbal Palette

* Honors presentation
 

Environmental Studies

  • Larkin Bernardi, A Hydro-chemical and Isotopic Analysis of Oneida Lake as it Pertains to the Invasion of the Zebra Mussel
  • Martha Geyer, Wilderness in a New Age: The Effects of GPS and Mobile Phones on Experiencing Nature
  • Alice Henry, The Effect of Windthrow on Forest Insect Diversity and Bird Feeding
  • Heather Krieger, Food Literacy for Food Justice: How is Food Taught in Schools?
  • Trey Milam, Hydrofracking: What it means for Water Resources in the Appalachian Basin
  • Morgan Osborn, An Investigation of Honeybee Health in Central NY: Landscape Diversity and Neonicotinoid Presence
  • Colyer Woolston, A Study of Macroinvertebrate Diversity in the Oriskany Creek
  • Claire Zurlo, Grassroots Initiatives to Alleviate Food Insecurity and Hunger
     

Hispanic Studies

  • Bianca Buonaguro, Voces recuperadas: interpretaciones feministas de la Guerra Civil española en La plaza del diamante y La voz dormida
  • Sarah Kerr, La crisis de las humanidades en la educación universitaria: lo que podemos aprender de los “studia humanitatis” del siglo XV
  • Sarah L. Ohanesian, La identidad y la masculinidad en la narrativa de Rosario Ferré
  • Marta K. Pisera, Madres e hijas: Aculturación e identidad en Real Women Have Curves y Spanglish
  • Kara Robinson, Progreso, civilizaciones e imperio en History of the Conquest of Peru de William H. Prescott

History

  • *John Boudreau, Savages and Indians: European Perceptions of Native Americans in the Canadian Fur Trade, 1754-1819
  • *Julia Grace Brimelow, The Nationalist Thought of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
  • *Anderson Tuggle, “A Bloodless Revolution: The Transition from Divided Monarchies to a Unified Democracy in the Princely States of Rajasthan, 1926-1956

* Honors presentation
 

Music

  • Nicholas Brewer, piano
  • Hillary Peckham, piano
  • William Robertson, composition
  • Jacob Taylor, choral conducting

 

Neuroscience

  • Lauren Brady, Improvement of Social Skills in a First Grader Using a Social Story: A Case Study
  • Emily Brodsky, Uncovering the Science Behind Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Taylor Friedman, A Mathematical Model of an Octopaminergic Neuron
  • Liza Gergenti, The Role of Glutamate Receptors in a Rat Model of Schizophrenia
  • Elliot Greenham, Covert Shifts in Attention Affect Pupil Dilation
  • Victoria Harbour, Emotional Ethics: The Contribution of Emotion and Cognition to Moral Judgment
  • Sidika Kajtezovic, Do the Deaf See Better Than the Hearing? An Examination of Changes in Spatial Vigilance After Early Auditory Deprivation
  • Mahima Karki, Understanding the Effect of Metformin on Genetic versus Food-Induced Obesity in Mice
  • Daniel Lustberg, Losing Control: Neuroadaptation in the Dopamine Motive Circuit and the Development of Compulsive Behaviors
  • Marla Marquez, The Effect of Neonatal Fenoterol Treatment on Neurodevelopment in Rats: A Potential Animal Model of Autism
  • Sarah Mehrotra, Cognitive Control Plus Math
  • Samantha Otis, An Exploration of Glycolytic Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster S2 Cells
  • Emily Palen, Taste (and Then Find) the Rainbow: The Effects of Gustation on Visual Attention
  • Freymon Perez, A Rat Model of Schizophrenia
  • Scott Pillette, Examining the Effects of Lead on a Synapse
  • Allison Reeder, The Effects of Lead on Calcium Levels in PC12 Cells
  • Emily Sherry, He Said She Said: The Differences in Language Processing Between Men And Women
  • Katherine Tomalonis, The Effects of Exercise on Behavior in the Rat Model of ADHD
     

Performance Studies

  • Sarah “Dewi” Caswell, The Gamut: a chose-your-own adventure show
     

Psychology

  • Maybelline Acquaye, Applied Behavior Modification Techniques: Positively Altering Stereotypy in Autism
  • Sarah Emily Andrews, iLearn: The Effectiveness of Computer- and Tablet-based Games on Language Acquisition
  • Hannah Bacon, Discrepancies Between Parent and Child Perceptions of Relationship Quality and Psychological Outcomes
  • Martin Bawden, Behavioral Economics and Evolutionary Psychology: The Rationality of Seemingly Irrational Options
  • Summer Bottini, Do These Jeans Make My Butt Look Big? An Examination of the Mechanisms of Fat Talk
  • Joshua Bridge, Modify Me?: A Study on the Relation of Attractiveness and Artificial Enhancement
  • Madison Brown, Narcissism, Self-Esteem, and Aggression: A Review of the Literature
  • Erika L. Craven, Athletics and Self-Regulation: Buffering Against Ego Depletion
  • Shannon Cuthbert, Emotional and Social Determinants of Active Defending and Passive Bullying Bystander Behavior
  • Katherine A. Delesalle, Does Defensive Self-Esteem Predict Attribution Style on an Academic Task?
  • Jenn Durkee, Employing Social Stories to Increase Social Comfort and Ease Class-Year Transitions in a Middle School Boy: A Case Study
  • Molly Ferguson, The Association Between Relationship Quality and Body Image in First-Year Athletes and Non-Athletes
  • Jess Gutfleish, Coping with the Transition to College: Comparing Social Support from Friends and Family Members
  • Laura Herlihy, Does Personality Predict Functional Matching and Persuasion in Social Marketing?
  • Anne Hilburn, The Relation of Attachment to the Development and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
  • Harsimran (Sim) Janjua, Who’s Your Daddy?: Paternal and Maternal Roles in Parent-Child Interaction and Theory of Mind
  • Shamicka Jenkins Smith, Bilingualism and Development: How Ddoes Bilingualism Influence Education?
  • John Johnson, Rule-breaking, Testosterone, and Life History Theory: A Study
  • Ashley King, Suppressing Thoughts About an Interaction Partner: Effects of Behavioral Confirmation
  • Hannah Kloeckner, Facilitating Communication in a Child with Delayed Speech Using PECS: A Case Study
  • Eva Kramer, Instructing Students with Austism Spectrum Disorder in the General Education Classroom
  • Johanna Kreisbuch, Misery Loves Company: An Examination of the Contagion of Disclosure
  • Katherine Krusel, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy Patients
  • Nicole LaPan, Using Functional Behavior Assessment and Differential Reinforcement to Decrease Problem Behavior in a Preschooler: A Case Study
  • Noah Levinson, Developmental Programming of Behavior: The Role of Endocrinology
  • Ryan Melone, Empathy versus Oneness as Motivators of Prosocial Behavior
  • Jose Mendez, Examining The Effect of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Self-affirmation on Defensiveness to Threatening Health Information
  • Jonice Mendoza, Art and Autism: Which Environment is Best?
  • Sarah L. Ohanesian, Defensive Self-Esteem and Recall Biases for Criticism Following Ego Threat
  • Kerry Reilly, The Loss Aversion Bias in Decision-Making: Variations Relating to ADHD Symptomatology
  • Evie Root, Food for Thought: Is There a Relationship Between Going Gluten-free and Cognition?
  • Jennifer Rougeux, The Effects of Stress and Working Memory on Retrieval-Induced Forgetting
  • Chenara Seepersad, Is There a Relationship Between Stigma Consciousness and First Generation College Students’ Academic Performance and Social Adjustment to College?
  • Michelle Shafer, A Critical Review of Art Therapy
  • Kara Shannon, The Dark Side of Assistive Technology for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Emma Shafto Sisti, Minority Stress, Perceived Bicultural Competence, and Academic Achievement Among Ethnic Minority Students at Hamilton College
  • Quan Wan, Do Music Chills Sharpen or Dull the Rest of the World?
  • Evan Warnock, Space Matters: An Examination of Student and Faculty Perceptions of Learning Spaces at Hamilton College
  • Ricardo A. Welch,  Effectiveness of Music Therapy For At-Risk Adolescents
  • Ben Yudysky, Entrepreneurship: Individual Differences Shape a Common Process
     

Theatre

  • Josh Bridge, director, The Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang
  • Minou Clark, Savannah Moon
  • Kyra Jackson and Torian Pope, No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Anna Jastrzembski, Trans/Sexxx/Angel
  • Lauren Lanzotti, Der Sandmann
     

Women’s Studies

  • Cynthia Batista, Stark Differences: Translation of Female Characters from A Song of Ice and Fire to Game of Thrones
  • Jennifer Kim, An Examination of Body Image and Eating Patterns Among College-Age Korean American Women
  • Stephanie Lang, Jealousy, Manipulation, and Unhealthy Relationships: A Feminist Analysis of Emotional Abuse in Intimate Heterosexual College Relationships
  • Jessica Moulite, The Smurfette Principle, The Magical Negro, and The Gay Conscience: The ‘Diversification of Primetime Television
  • Sydney Proze, Are Mothers Still Expected to Feed the [White, Middle-Class, Nuclear] Family?: A Comparative Analysis of the Gendered Ideologies in Convenience Food Advertising
  • Ashley Williams, Manufacturing Maternity: An Analysis of Institutional and Individual Employment of the Biomedical Paradigm in Constructing Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Shaha Zehra, (En)Lightened Advertising: A Content Analysis of Skin Lightening Commercials in India

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