An Honors Senior Project is required for graduation through the WWU Honors College. The Senior Project serves as a “capstone” experience, synthesizing what students have done in their entire education, including but not limited to their work in the major and in Honors.
The term, Senior Project, is vague, and for a reason. The term “Senior Thesis” is easily available, but it is one the WWU Honors College deliberately has avoided. While the project must be “product oriented,” i.e., there must be something tangible at the end of the process, it may be a long paper, that is a thesis, but it may also take several other forms, e.g., a recital, a painting, an album, a bound book, all of which have been quite successful senior projects.
2024
Confronting PTSD in The Aftermath of Abuse, Ayla A. Bilyeu
Development of my Jewish identity through my connections to the Holocaust and Israel: an autoethnography, Portia Carney
Who Are You? The Relationship Between Language and Personality, Gwendolyn Cooley
Developing Two-Dimensional Ammonium Sensors for Use in Marine Sediments, Zoe Kass
Automating Employee Milestone Celebrations at GeoEngineers – Building the Work Anniversary Report Tool, Natalie Keys
Communication Temptation: An Examination of Environmental Arrangement Strategies in Early Intervention Settings, Beatrice A. King and Anna Brillault-Kenny
Toying With Adapted Toys, Joshua King
Design of Experiments Analysis of Crosslink Density and Plasticizer Effects on Rheological Properties of Guanidine-based Covalent Adaptable Networks, Adelle L. Koenig and Michael B. Larsen
Climate Storytelling: An Experiment in Interdisciplinary Course Design, Gabrielle Jean Laipenieks
Investigations of an RNA interference pathway in Tetrahymena thermophila, Lola Lang
Goo Gone! Removing adhesive contamination from PakTech beverage toppers for recycling, Emmaline Lenz
Villain or Victim: A Poetic Interpretation of Helen of Troy’s Legacy, Anne Lillis
S.A.D. Survival Kit: A Podcast on Seasonal Affective Disorder, Kate Lincoln
Total Synthesis of Rupestines H and I, Aimee Long and James Vyvyan
witness marks: A Poetry Chapbook, Briana Lubinski
Effects of Foam Rolling on Tissue Stiffness in Back Muscles After a Rowing Workout: A Case Series, Adalia Ludwig
Birds of Costa Rica: Journal & Sketchbook, Clara Magsarili
Imaging of the shallow crustal structure across the region of the 2013 Mw 7.5 Craig Earthquake with high-resolution seismic streamer tomography, Emma Martin, Andrew Gase, and Emily Roland
Palm (excerpt from Northern Flicker), Fiona Martinez
Examining the Accessibility of Digital Payment: The Rise of Socioeconomic Inequality due to the Cashless Revolution, Kaylie McRea
Miss Americana & The Queen Bey: A Seismic Analysis of Synchronous Crowd Movement at Lumen Field Concerts in Seattle, WA, Karenna A. Merritt
Finding the Green, Bridget Miller
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Review of Evidence-Based Practice within Communication Sciences and Disorders, Mackenzie Morehead
So what is exercise anyway?: A Sociolinguistic Study on the Definition of Exercise, Javin Morrison
Evaluating Automated Accessibility Checker Tools, Thai Nguyen
Early Spring Seasonal Eating Guide, Emma Owens
Life Cycle Progression of Chlainomonas sp.: A Field Study, Honu Pata, Robin Kodner, AG Camara, Clare Hanneman, Maya Matsumoto, and Dan van Hees
Implementing Impact: A Lesson on mySQL Databases and Accessibility, Abigayle Peterson and Yasmine Elglaly
Exploring the Effects of Cannabidiol and Beta-Caryophyllene on Stress-Induced Allodynia in Mice, Simone Player, Alana Sullivan, and Josh Kaplan
Evaluating How Well Open-Source AI Models Interpret Written Prompts, Madeline Pysher
Shoreline: A Short Film, Carina Raffaelli
The 22nd Annual Masquerade, Isabella Royster
Fashion Slow: Poetic Threads of Fate and Decay, Adrienne Rugg
Supporting an Ecosystem of Learning: Outdoor ECE Lesson Plans, Nicole K. Ryden
Colorful Relations: How Race Conditions the Relationship Between Sexual Orientation and Willingness to Interracially Date, Emily Sabisch
Medical Horror: Authority and History in Medical Spaces, Sebastian Sauceda
Bloom or Bust: an interdisciplinary exploration of flowering plants and how climate change impacts them, Carolyn Schmode
And They Were Roommates, Eleanor Scott
Loremaking, Queerness, and Community: Fanfiction from Dante to MsKingBean89, Samantha Seaboldt
Logic Lessons, Elizabeth Skiffington
Colorblind Ideology and Inheritance Status Predicting Wealth Inequality and Poverty Perceptions in the United States, Caitlyn Steiner
MAD WOMEN: Hidden Patriarchal Practices and Feminine Rage, Ariana Stephens
Justifying Goods, Max Stone
Feed the Earth: An Exploration of Regenerative Agriculture Programs in Washington State, Lily Storbeck
Our Inheritance: An Honors Capstone exploring the potential future of environmental policy under climate change, Maggie Strecker
Twi Protein Contribution to Genome Integrity in Tetrahymena thermophila, Toby Traudt
Student Perspectives on Returning to In-Person Learning Modalities, Lance K. Tulloch
2023
Become the Monster: Identity, Perception, and What it Means to be Inhuman, Juniper Amundson
Language Barriers Among Immigrant Communities, Rosia Aning
Racial Diversity and Retention Rates of Psychology Faculty in Washington State Public Universities, Chiyo Aoki-Kramer
The Three R's of Exercise: Review, Reframe, Recommend, Liam Arenas-Field
Fierce Female Friendships: An Artistic Representation and Exploration of the Benefits of Gender-Based Inclusivity and Community in STEM, Maya Bachmeier-Evans
SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Developing a model for sentiment & linguistic analysis of cable news, Caitlin Bannister
CBD Levels and Localization in the Body, Jenavieve Barson
Outdoor Therapy for Women: A Coming Home, Drew Baty
Hunting Down Treatment Therapies for Huntington's Disease, Sage Berry
"You Have to Look at Both Sides": Percepticide and Memory in Argentina's Parque de la Memoria, Lily Berver
She Who Seeks the Deep, Laci Bowhay
Enticing Communication: An Examination of Environmental Arrangement Strategies in Early Intervention Settings, Anna Brillault-Kenny and Beatrice King
Verse Engineering: A Compositional Analysis of World Music Cultures, Mosey Brown
Studying the South Lake Whatcom Fire, Lillian Buck
Vail Resorts, Inc. - Valuation and Comprehensive Analysis, Griffin Butler
The Secret History of Bagley Basin: Snow Algae and the Millennia Long Story They Tell, AG Camara, Robin Kodner, Doug Clark, Michael Kraft, and Emma Mickelson
Perspectives on (In)Human(e) Displacement and Migration, Jordan Carey
An Analysis of Clinopyroxene Reaction Rims as Assimilation Chronometers at Cinder Cone Volcano, Lassen National Volcanic Park, California, Annabelle Carozza
Women in Classical Music, Caitriona Cassel
Math Identity: Breaking Barriers and Building Brilliance, Emily Chappell
Dine and Dash: Changing Harbor Seal Numbers and Habitat Use at the Developing Bellingham Waterfront, Holland Conwell
What are our plans missing? What are our missing plans?, Vivien Coop
Recreation: Work That Makes A Difference, Logan Cornwell
Making Space: How the ENGD Makerspace promotes inclusion and belonging, and its success in doing so, Noah Crow
Perceptions of Political Knowledge, Political Participation, and Political Efficacy Among Western Washington University Students, Bryndis Danke
Not All Monsters Live Under Your Bed, Rebecca Davis
Pieces of the Puzzle: How public health fits in with the world, Erin Demir
Frank Wins a Staring Contest with the Universe, Frank DePalma
Language Planning, Education, and Linguistic Identity in the Republic of Ireland, Margo Digiacinto
No Man's Land: Diversify Our Outdoors, Katrina Doerflinger
We Walk in Different Worlds, Olivia Dong
Ego Liminality, Sof Dubois
Getting to Know Community Forestry, Jane Egan
Mistletoe Blooms: A Proposal of Method, Petra Ellerby
Route 666: A Guided Tour Through American Road Trip Horror, Grace Fiser
Salmon Against Humanity: Are Hatcheries a Part of Salmon Recovery?, Janine Fong
Wild Buildings in the Balkans - Using drones and GIS to identify illegal buildings in Galicica National Park, North Macedonia, Marko Foster
Animal-Sediment relationships reexamined, a meta-analysis, Christine Franzen
Framing Dr. Fauci: The Portrayal of Dr. Anthony Fauci by Fox News and CNN in the Early COVID-19 Lockdown, Lilian Froese Raihl
Redefining Drug Education: A Neuroscience-Based Class for High Schoolers, Talia Frost-Belansky
Examining harbor seal predation impacts on Bellingham Technical College's salmon smolt release, Madison Gard and Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez
A History of China-Tanzania Relations: How China Became Donor, Friend, and Foe, Lucy Gentry
Joy at the End of the World, Faith Giboney
A Golden Friendship: A Children's Book, Gurleen Gill
Visualizing Animal Fire Responses, Michael Ginster
Assessing Positioning of Centriolar Satellites by the Golgi Apparatus, Jonah Goodfried and Nick Galati
Derivatives, Mikayla Goodkin et al
A Change-Point Analysis of Air Pollution Levels in Silao, Mexico and Fresno, California, Rachael Goodwin