The Senior Program

The Senior Program is an integrating, culminating experience that draws on the knowledge and research skills you have developed in the first three years. At its heart is the senior project. The project is a detailed exploration of an environmental topic that culminates in a research paper and oral presentation. The Senior Project should demonstrate competent application of methods and concepts from within the student's selected discipline but may also incorporate methods and concepts of other academic fields reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. Majors plan and pursue this independent project under the close supervision of a faculty member and the program's advisory committee.

Recent environmental studies capstone presentations include:

Capstone Presentations

• The Arctic Popularity Contest: Coverage of Charismatic Animals in Scientific and Popular Articles
• Clearing the Air: An Equity Analysis of Air Quality Monitor Distribution in Southern California
• “Pow(d)er to the People”: Exclusivity and Accessibility in the Colorado Ski Industry
• The Environmental Implications of Planned Obsolescence and Right to Repair
• Sea-Level Rise in Boston: Who is Affected and How Does Data Impact Funding for Coastal Resilience Projects?
• Burning Inequality: How Socioeconomic Factors Shape Wildfire Vulnerability Disparities in Southern California
• Toxic Transparency: Improving Public Access to Air Pollution and TRI 1:00 Data in Houston, Texas
• Variations in Representation: Ocean Acidification Data Disparities Between the Global North and South
• Data Centers and Urban Planning: Understanding the Environmental and Social Impacts of Data Storage in Minneapolis and Saint Paul
• Public Park Accessibility Trends in Dallas County, Texas
• Equity in Solarity: A Comparative Analysis of Communities With and Without Solar Farms

Capstone Panel Presentations

Panel 1

• Queer Environmental Data Justice
• Racist Perceptions of Bushmeat: How Science and Conservation Perpetuates Stereotypes
• Diversity in Citizen Science: A Push for Demographic-Based Participation Strategies in Anticipation of a Worsening Climate Crisis

Panel 2

• Flooded with Injustices: Procedural Environmental Justice and the FEMA Flood Mapping Process
• Rethinking Green Progress: Procedural Injustice in The Rezoning and Development of the Gowanus Canal
• Techno-Optimistic and AI Expansion

Panel 3

• Land, Justice, and Sovereignty: Addressing the Legal Obstacles to Meaningful Tribal Co-Stewardship
• The Path Home: Returning to Indigenous Methodologies and Epistemologies in Bison Restoration Efforts
• Nature, Peer Reviewed: Colonial Reason and the Ethical Debris of Global Climate Science

Thesis Research

• Warming Up to Heat Pumps: Navigating Barriers to Heat Pump Adoption in New York State Households
• Ashes to Ashes: Analyzing Peri-Urban Forest Dynamics and the Carbon Costs of the Emerald Ash Borer Infestation
• B*ck This! Investigating the Effect of European Buckthorn on the Pathogenesis of Borrelia Burgdorferi
• From Field to Stream: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use on Surface Water Quality in Sauquoit Creek, NY
• Interscalar Wormholes: Supermarkets, Local Foods, and a Politics of Scale
• Degrowth: An Urbanist, Civic Republican Approach
• Put Down the Tote Bag: Building a Real Relationship With the Environment
• Measuring Soil Carbon from Agriculture to Forest: A Case Study of Hamilton College’s Reforestation Initiative
• Appetite for Community: Understanding How Small-Scale, Local Farmers Build Vital Relationships Within Central New York
• Hiding People Not Yet Here: The Absence of Pro- and Anti-Natalism in Climate Mitigation
• Scaling Sustainability: Collaborative Approaches and Multidimensional Scopes of Responsibility at Starbucks and Forno Brisa