Honors Senior Projects

The Senior Honors Project represents the capstone experience of the Guilford College Honors Program. After taking classes in a variety of disciplines, students have the opportunity to engage in in-depth study on a topic of their choosing. They work under the close supervision of a faculty member they have selected over the course of an academic year. Students can choose among a variety of formats to complete this requirement. Some have investigated a specific topic and developed a credible and supported thesis. Others have developed research hypotheses and used research methodologies to evaluate the hypotheses. And still others have written works of fiction, mounted art exhibitions, or performed their creative work. While students are not required to conduct a project in their major field of study, they are expected to work in an area in which they already have developed some expertise. As part of any Senior Honors Project, each student is required to present their work as part of an Oral Presentation. Completion requires the approval of three Guilford College faculty members.

In recent years, students have worked on a variety of topics that span the academic disciplines. Despite the differences. each of these projects clearly demonstrates a passion for learning, a commitment to scholarly achievement, and a creative mind. Some recent project titles follow.

2005-2006

Leann (Annie) Erbsen - New Frontiers in Treating Liver Cancer: Dose Calculations for Yttrium-90 Microsphere (Biology)

Julia Hood - Senior Art Thesis (Art)

Carol Ann Iglesia - Stable RNA Gene Analysis of Members of the Family Azotobacteraceae/Pseudomonadaceae (Biology)

Jake Lubel - Publicly Funded Stadiums, Revenue Sharing, & the Future Implications of Major League Baseball (Economics)

Maria J. Moss - The "Possessive Investment in Whiteness" and Its Implications in Supreme Court Decisions (Philosophy)

Lauren Reed - Migrant Women's Voices: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Migrant Women's Agency and Social Change in China (Integrative Studies)

Emily Stewart - Mothers, Milk, and Money: Social Obstacles to Breastfeeding in Contemporary American Culture (Women's Studies)

2003-2004

Amy Allgire - The Organization and Copy Number of the rRNA genes of Azotobacter paspali (Biology)

Sarah S. Douglas - Mourning, Raging, Harvesting (English)

Christin Gulick (CMIT)

Erin Houlihan - Los Suenos Americanos: Race, Gender, and the American Dream in Caribbean-Latino Immigrant Literature (English)

Joseph Sawvel (Physics)

Troy Unverdruss - The Destroyinator: The Complete Development and Marketing of a Game (CMIT)

Michael Bryan Warf - Inter-Doman Communication of Methionyl-tRNA Synthetase (Biology/Chemistry)

Cameron Wilkin - Gifts from Troy (English)

James Wooten (Physics)

2002-2003

Elizabeth Baltaro - The Art of Spirit: Reflections Toward a New Mysticism

Daniel Becker Freeman - Ellipsoidal and Convex Tight Frames

Allison Goss - The Ecological Impacts of Land Use Change: An Investigation into Three Biodiversity Indices

Robert Hiltonsmith - On Computability, Consciousness and Mathematical Insight: An Exploration of the Works of Roger Penrose

Sarah Humpal - Grow Up: Toni Morrison and the Bildungsroman Tradition

Laura Registrato - It's Not the Heat, It's the Humanity: Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy in Punk Subculture

Ross Shaull - Evolving an Edge Detecting Cellular Automata Using a Genetic Algorithm

Despina Statelova - Senior Art Thesis

2001-2002

Ari Betof - Digging Deeper: Extending Understanding of the Upper Mantle through Numerical Modeling and the Geoid

Eliza Bradley - Modeling Atmospheric Conditions Over Short Intervals at Haleakala Summit;

Richard Flynn - Walker Percy's Search for the Unknowable Self

Jay Gregory - Estimation of Deflection of Starlight by the Sun Using Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry

Jon Hicks - Confronting the Virtual Dragon: An Exploration of Sociophilosophical Perspectives in Modern Computer-Mediated Communications

Scott Pryor - A Direction of Love: Representing and Bearing Witness to the History of November 3, 1979

Samara Richter - Promoting the Satisfaction and Well-being of Assisted Living Facility Residents

Eva Shaw - The Schiff's Reagent: Exploring The Feulgen and PAS Reactions in Eukaryotes

Erin Wamsley - Lucid Dream Content

Danielle Wilson - Projection and Language of Experience: An Empirical Examination of a Gestalt Therapy Concept.

2000-2001

Colin Berry - A Study of Social Change: The Application of Traditional Frameworks to the Animal Rights Movement

Katherine Hunter - The Last Page: Leaving Guilford via Dog Street

Tiffany Nunnelley - Negative Persuasion: An Attempt To Increase Breast Self-Examinations in College-Aged Women

Kendall Kibby-Deck - Ethel in Angels: "Maybe... a queen can forgive her vanquished foe"

Colleen Sullivan - Integrative Forensic Science Laboratory Manual

Rebecca Wiggers - The Future of European Security

Ellen Yutzy - From Bern to Waldeck: Anabaptist (Amish Mennonite) Migrations in Europe, 1650-1800

1999-2000

Leslie Ale - "Health Care for the Mexican Migrant Worker: A Special Focus on North Carolina"

Alexis Applegate - "Environmental (In)Justice: A Manifestation of Racism and Classism in American Society"

Aaron Denton - "Elements of Successful Teams and Determining a Team's Development with those Elements"

Megan DiMaio - "The Second Agricultural Revolution: Environmental and Ethical Impact of Genetically Engineered Crop Plants"

Lauren Fortuna - "Performing Arkadina: An Honors Thesis on the Acting Process"

Amy Gorelow - Becoming Masha: An Honors Acting Thesis in Two Semesters"

Kasey Grieco - "The Art of Living"

Marjorie Hall - "Back on Peachtree: A Novel"

Lisa Lundeen - "Auf der Jagd nach Schmetterlingen" ("In Pursuit of Butterflies")

Shawn McGowen - "Employee Ownership"

Lindsay Oldenski - "Causes, Effects, and Implications of the Thai Economic Crisis."

Anna Lena Phillips - "Longing for Landscape: Exploring Voice, Vernacular, and Music"

Astrid Radermacher - "The Search for Oil-Degrading Microbes: 16S rRNA Analysis of Bacteria from Soil near Scott Base, Antarctica"

1998-1999

Drew Applefield - "Mutation in the Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Gene is Positively Correlated with End-Stage Renal Disease"

Becca Baird - "Painting Balance: A Comprehensive Analysis of Piet Mondrian's Writings, Religion, and Art"

Keir Bickerstaffe - "Essentialist Men's Movements of the 1990's: Retreat from the "Feminized" World"

Bill Blevins - "An Examination of Gender Equity in the Guilford College Athletics Program"

Amy Broach - "Drowsy Doctors: Dedicated or Dangerous? The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Medical Residents' Performance"

Becky Cage - "A Comparative Study of Three Economies in Transition"

Gwyneth Cliver - "Zwischen zwei Laendern: die besondere Situation der Migrantinnen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland"

John Cocking - "A Translation of "Le Roman de Mélusine""

Jon Fero - "Hog Farming in North Carolina"

Christy Herbes - "Five Friends"

Libby Hinsley - "Identity, Action, and Social Cooperation: A Feminist Perspective on Autonomy"

Adam Lucas - "At Play in the Fields of Summer: Roger Kahn and the Culture of Baseball in American Society"

Colin McFadden-Roan - "The Woman is Dead"

Allison Mowrer - "Les Mères et les filles: Trois écrivaines françaises du vingtième siècle et leur relation avec leur mère"

Adrienne Potts - "Odor Control in Adult Incontinence Pads"

Allison Randall - "Masculinity and Pornography: A Feminist Qualitative Analysis"

Mariah Sawyer - ""Altared" Images"

Ruthy Scotti - "The Critical Impact of Psychosocial Factors in the Environmental Degradation of Modern China"

Erin Seltzer - "Women and Quilting: Remember Me"

Jessie White - "Moments in the Journey: Creative and Spiritual"

Allison Whitman - "The Decision making Processes of the Supreme Court and How it Affected the Gay Rights Movement"