At the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, every student culminates their academic journey with an honors thesis or senior project—an experience that transforms years of learning into a meaningful, personal achievement. Guided by a dedicated faculty advisor and a second reader, each student explores a topic they are truly passionate about, making the thesis not just a requirement, but one of the most fulfilling and memorable parts of their college experience. With their advisor's consent, the thesis is archived in the repository and goes on to support new research around the world.
Theses from 2026
MENSTRUATION MEDIATING MENTAL HEALTH: PREMENSTRUAL EXACERBATION OF BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY, Autumn Abbas
A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SEA TURTLE (CHELONIA MYDAS, CARETTA CARETTA, AND LEPIDOCHELYS KEMPII) SUTURE MORPHOLOGY, Adolfo Emanuel Artigas IV
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS IN HUMANS AND OTHER MAMMALS, Aashni Atkinson
BRAIN-WIDE MAPPING OF ADAPTIVE FEEDING STATES IN ASTYANAX MEXICANUS, Keisha Bansal
JUVENILE JUSTICE, Kayla Baptiste
ECOFEMINIST ENTANGLEMENTS, Rachel Benbasat
MICROHABITAT OCCUPATION PATTERNS OF CRYPTOBENTHIC REEF FISH AND BRITTLE STARS ON THE SPONGE CALLYSPONGIA ACULEATA, Shannon Bieniek
AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS IN THE PERSONAL CARE AND COSMETICS INDUSTRY, Anna Briscoe
INFLUENCE OF ASD ON MORALITY, Spencer Brown
MODULATING THE PLASTISPHERE: INHIBITING BIOFILM FORMATION OF VIBRIO SPP., Kacian Clayton
CORPORATE PERSONHOOD AND THE SCOPE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, Jadyn Cooper
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF PIONEER TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS IN HIV TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, Lyan Darboys Guerrero
GLIA REGULATE MOTOR CIRCUIT EXCITABILITY THROUGH A CELL SUBTYPE AND SPATIALLY SPECIFIC MANNER, Nahila Davis
INVESTIGATING THE NEUROANATOMY OF ADULT ASTYANAX MEXICANUS USING FULLY SEGMENTED, DIGITAL 3-DIMENSIONAL BRAIN ATLASES, Serena Amro Gazze
C1Q-DEPENDENT MICROGLIA REGULATION BY THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX, Aiden Geleta
INFAUNA DIVERSITY IN SPONGES WITH DIFFERENT MICROBIAL ABUNDANCES AND MICROHABITAT INTERACTIONS, Ella Karakadze
TRANSCRIPTIONAL RESPONSE TO ESTROGEN RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS IN TAMOXIFEN-RESISTANT BREAST CANCER CELLS, Tahchur Kim
INFAUNA COMMUNITIES IN APLYSINA INSULARIS AND NIPHATES ERECTA SPONGES USING eDNA, Mallory Neal
GLIA-DEPENDENT POTASSIUM BUFFERING MODULATES MOTOR CIRCUIT FUNCTION IN DROSOPHILA, Panteha Sartipi
Theses from 2025
EXPLORING BIS-DINITROCARBOXYPHENYL-KRYPTOFIX-22 DERIVATIVES AS PRECURSORS FOR HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSTS IN BIODIESEL PRODUCTION, Priscilla Agrinsoni
THE POWER OF PERSONALIZATION: HOW TAILORED MARKETING DRIVES CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT, Roberto Alonso-Guma
COMMUTATIVE RINGS, Vilmaris Alvarado
ANALYSIS MODEL FOR TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME IN LATIN AMERICA AND EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS, Connor Barral
STUDY GROUP ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR CONNECTION TO STUDY PLANS AND STRATEGIES, Tatyanna Caputo
CLIONA DELITRIX POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS AND ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION ON SAN ANDRÉS REEFS, COLOMBIA, Maya Clarke
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF HUMAN PIONEER FACTORS ON HIV TRANSCRIPTION THROUGH RNA INTERFERENCE SCREENING, Zachary Comella
ANALYZING AUSTRONESIAN ALIGNMENT THROUGH HILIGAYNON SYNTAX, Ty Craaybeek
METAMORPHOSIS, Gavin Craft
“PRICING TRANSPARENCY IN U.S. HEALTHCARE: ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS.”, Ingrid Diaz
THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX AS A BARRIER TO C1Q SYNAPSE TAGGING, Kayla Difede
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS IN ENHANCING MARKETING STRATEGIES?, Kassidy Dunn
THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL GIANTS IN THE HOUSING MARKET: A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF PRIVATE EQUITY AND INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS DURING THE 2008 CRISIS, Kathryn Vaden Hughes
DIGITAL DISCOURSE ON ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A TEXT ANALYSIS OF CROSSCULTURAL SENTIMENTS IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES, Maryam Imran
THE CENTRAL ROLE OF ENDOTHELIAL CELLS IN VARIOUS CONTEXTS OF NEUROINFLAMMATION, Joseph M. Kagan
UTILIZING ELEVATED ZERO MAZE TO EVALUATE THE ROLE OF THE MPP2 GENE ON ANXIETY IN FEMALE MICE, Anjali Kannan
INTERNATIONAL THEORIES EXPLAINING PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN’S FOREIGN POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN AND ITS FUTURE IMPLICATIONS, Madison Kaplan
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON POLITICAL POLARIZATION, Emaad Khan
FUEL OF THE FUTURE: TOWARD BIODIESEL SYNTHESIS WITH METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS, Loïc La-Branche
USING THE MILLION MUTATION PROJECT STRAINS OF C. ELEGANS TO IDENTIFY CANDIDATE GENES LINKED TO ABNORMAL AMPHETAMINE-INDUCED BEHAVIORS, Nicole Litvinchuk
THE GENDER PAY GAP: AN OCCUPATIONAL ANALYSIS (2012-2023), Curtis Long
SYNERGETIC EFFECTS OF SPIRONOLACTONE AND DEHYDRO-CORTISTATIN A ON HIV SUPPRESSION, Alexander Lopez
CITIZENS UNITED: THE 2010 CRISIS IN THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS, Abbagayle Grace Madanat
THE IMPACT OF CORRUPTION ON LEBANON'S GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS AND THE CONNECTION TO TERRORISM, Joseph Mansour
A DIALETICAL MATERIALIST READING OF LANGUAGE AND IDEOLOGY IN THE METAMORPHOSIS, Sidhanth Sethi
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HIGHLY ECCENTRIC SYSTEMS OF BINARY NEUTRON STARS WITH SPIN, Victoria White
THE MUSICAL CONNECTION TO MATH, ZaKiyah Word
Theses from 2024
HOW ANTHROPOCENTRISM SHAPED FLORIDA, Olivia Benson
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF BOAT-GENERATED WAKE INFLUENCE ON THE ECOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF A SEAGRASS MEADOW, Noah Alexander Gorman
EXPLORING MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS TOOLS: A MATLAB “COOKBOOK”, Amparo Godoy Pastore
PRESENCE OF NEMATODES IN GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS IN THE ABACOA GREENWAY, Leighton Stack
ANAPLASMA PHAGOCYTOPHILUM’S EFFECT ON GOPHER TORTOISES OF SOUTH EAST FLORIDA, Elena Tonkin
GENETIC VARIANCE PRESENT IN TOLL-LIKE RECEPTOR 2 OF GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS, Hannah Varghese
EXPERIENCES WITH CHAMPIONS EMPOWERING CHAMPIONS: AN ORGANIZATION TO SUPPORT COLLEGE STUDENTS PREVIOUSLY IN FOSTER CARE, Mikayla Wiglesworth
Theses from 2023
OBSCURE CALCULUS A STUDY OF THE STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL LESSER KNOWN TOPICS IN CALCULUS, Rory Bender
INTERLEUKIN-1 INDUCES cFOS EXPRESSION IN ASTROCYTES IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS OF MICE, Christopher Vargas
Theses from 2022
SYNAPTIC COMPOSITION OF GLUTAMATE RECEPTORS IN A MOUSE MODEL FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, Skylar A. Anthony
UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF UNDIAGNOSED DISORDERS WITH DROSOPHILA CRISPR MUTANTS, Rishiraj Bandi
IDENTIFYING THE PROTEIN THAT MEDIATES SR1848'S INHIBITION OF LRH-1 TARGET GENE EXPRESSION, Allen Chan-Pong
FEATURE SELECTIVITY OF HIPPOCAMPAL CA1 NEURONS DURING MEMORY ENCODING, Aden Eagle
ALL THE WAYS THE WORLD COULD END: ART OF THE APOCALYPSE, Gina Marie Gruss
AN ANALYSIS OF MITOCHONDRIAL DISTRIBUTION ACROSS NEURON TYPES IN C. ELEGANS, Reggie Joseph
NOVEL CONTEXT EXPOSURE ENHANCES OBJECT RECOGNITION MEMORY: ASSESSING INVOLVEMENT OF NOREPINEPHRINE NEUROTRANSMISSION, Eleonora Lurie
DOES BILINGUALISM AFFECT MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA?, Pedro F. Millán
TEDANIA IGNIS CELL FRACTIONS: THEIR SYMBIONTS AND SEROTONIN, Bilal Mutluguler
THE PRESYNAPTIC ROLE OF PHOSPHAGEN SYSTEMS, Carlos David Oliva
INVESTIGATING CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR IN MICE FOLLOWING CHEMOGENETIC ACTIVATION OF STRESS-RESPONSIVE NEURONS, Matthew Pacheco
DEFINING THE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF ELFN1, Manan Patel
DO SPONGES NIPHATES DIGITALIS AND N. ERECTA SURVIVE A MULTI-YEAR CORAL REEF BLEACHING EVENT?, Alexandra Perez
ULTRASOUND EVIDENCE FOR OUT OF SEASON REPRODUCTION IN THE GOPHER TORTOISE (GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS) IN SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDA, Alyx Shechtman
AN INVESTIGATION OF NEURONAL CYTOSOLIC PH AND MITOCHONDRIAL ENERGY METABOLISM IN MDH2 DROSOPHILA MUTANTS, Frank Andrew Sigui
ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY: COMPARING SYMPTOM PROFILES OF ASIAN-AMERICAN, CAUCASIAN-AMERICAN, AND HISPANIC-AMERICAN GROUPS, Tristan Stinchcomb
A REVIEW OF THE CURRENT LITERATURE REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHEDELICS IN TREATMENT-RESISTANT PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS, Emmy Weisenberg
Theses from 2021
THE ETHICS BEHIND EUTHANASIA AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES, Joëlle Dwek
OPTIMIZATION OF SOLID-PHASE SYNTHESIS OF A BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE CYCLIC DISULFIDE-RICH PEPTIDE, Annika Tiller