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.
2021
Voting Your (Home)values: an Empirical Assessment of Homeownership and Voting Patterns in Seattle, Carter Fredrick Morfitt
Catcher and the Fry: Ecology, Power, and My Life with Salmon, Olivia Mueller
Contamination in the Upper Columbia: Smelting and Its Impact to the Environment and Human Health, Brenden Murphy
What you wish your partner knew: A mixed methods study on Western Washington University students' sexual satisfaction, Kess Nelson
Realization: A Short Story Collection for an Existentially Confused World, Payton Nguyen
No Strife in Reslife: Creating a survey to measure Resident Advisor stress over time, Isaac Nicholl
Living With It: A Patient’s and a Biochemist’s Perspective on Kidney Disease; A Historical Review of Alport Syndrome, Jacob Olson
To Remember Even This, Jessica Oravetz
What's In That Scat: An Analysis of Canada Lynx Diet and Distribution in the North Cascades Ecosystem, Antonia Parrish
Depression Symptoms of College Students During COVID-10 and the Universities’ Response, Anamika Paulay
Reflections on setting up the Cyber Range Intrusion Detection System, William Pearson
Multifunctional Polymer-Nanoparticle Composites for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Applications, Aliandra E. Pierce, Samantha A. Patrick, and Steven R. Emory
Left to Their Own Devices: A Social Marketing Campaign, Kathryn Poole
Spike Protein Antibody Interactions Elicited by the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, Meghan Quinlan
Tidelocked, Will Rasmussen
Structure of Blood Coagulation Factor VIII in Complex with Anti-C2 Domain Inhibitory Antibody, Estelle K. Ronayne, Shaun C. Peters, Joseph Gish, Celena Wilson, H. Trent Spencer, Christopher B. Doering, Pete Lollar, P. Clint Spiegel Jr., and Kenneth C. Childers
Montessori Approach in Public Schools, Sara Ronen
The Exiled Prophet (novel excerpt), Anna Russon
Large extrusion bodies in Piwi family protein knockout strains in Tetrahymena thermophila, Jason Sasser
A Legacy of Lies: Examining Donald Trump’s Record-Breaking Dishonesty, Sophie Sceats
Wandering Whatcom Falls, Hailey Schmidt
The Possible Presence of Mycorrhizae in the Chuckanut Marsh Wetland and the Lamentable Absence of Personality in Scientific Communication, Evangeline Schmitt
Iterative Screen Printing: Finding Tactile Respite Within Remote Collaboration, Mercedes Schrenkeisen, Rae Baitx, and Robin Goodwin
Not Racist Is Not Enough: Actionable Antiracism for White People, Cora M. Shields
Devising as Drama Therapy: An Experiment, Erin Smith
Quasipositive Braids and Ribbon Surfaces, Rachel Snyder
Environmental Impact Assessment: Nuyakuk River Small Scale Hydroelectric Project, Reed Squire, Amy Owen, Jessica Ngo-Ly, and Tyler Sanderson
Despite Controversy, #OwnVoices is Here to Make a Difference, Shannon Steffens
Nadshedu: Constructing a Fictional Language, Anna Steinhilber
Haunting this Garden, Anna B. Thomas
COVID-19 Impact Assessment and Future Strategies, Sarah Thorsteinson, Lina Albernaz, Renee Bailey, Ellis Baril, Miranda Boitano, Caysea Browne, Kaitlyn Browne, Maggie Christie, Antonia Gschwend, Sofie Halverson, Madeline Hazenberg, Sloane Perkins, Savannah Schell, Devon Sherwood, and Derek Simmons
River Archives: A visual examination of self through personal journal entries along the Deschutes, Wenatchee, and Colorado rivers, Skylar Lynn Tibbetts
Examining perception of STI and pregnancy risk and prevention among a sample of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, Emily van Deinse
(Not) Speaking Spanish: Explicit Pronunciation Instruction in the Online High School Classroom, Brahm vanWoerden
Mentoring Through Moss: Measuring Air Pollution with High School Youth in the Duwamish Valley, Nichole Vargas
Bivalve Monitoring at Weaverling Spit, Nathalie Wagler
Utilizing VR for Manufacturing Learning and Training, Jetrin Wichienwidhtaya
The Secret History: The Statistics and Sociology Behind Fiction, Sam Wick
Student Leadership in Western Washington University’s Honors Program, Emma Wiechert
History Through Fashion: The 2020 Collection, Alex Wiecking
2020
Cooperative Hunting Behavior of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in Whatcom Creek, Delaney Adams
Conformal Geometry of Polygons, Michael Albert
Educate Me: The Use of Solutions Journalism in The Seattle Times’ Education Lab, Audra Anderson
Pixel Composition: Converting Images to Music, Eric Anderson
Current and Historical Estuary Extent in Major River Deltas of the Puget Sound: A Comparison of Estimates, Ashley Arthur
TheatreTalk: (In)Justice, Meghan Baker
European Green Crab Mitigation in Whatcom County, Patty Barry; Melissa Browning; Alexis Bryson,; Harrison Fuchs; and Etilet Maipi
Examining the Role of Local Opioid Prescriptions in Predicting K-12 Educational Outcomes in California, Oregon, and Washington School Districts, Brianna Berkson
Evaluation of Psychoacoustical Testing with A Portable Device for Individuals with Hearing Impairment, ShengJie Adelaide Bock
Emotion in Science: The Need for Compassion in Wildlife Conservation, Max Boock
Emotion in Science: The Need for Compassion in Wildlife Conservation, Max Alexandria Boock
Cuba en cambio: Shifting ideas of Cuban national identity, Nancy Brill
Reframing the World Through Embodied Listening, Emily Bunker
Myths and Misconceptions of Alternative and Augmentative Communication, Hannah Burch
Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis Associated with High Heel Use, Emily Carlson
Social Reckoning? In This Economy?, Madison Carter
Learning to Fish Together: Imperialism and Hope in International Volunteer Service, Sadie De Luca
Culture in a Yellow Vest: The Role of Popular Culture in Social Protest, Teresa Derr
Cownose Ray Movement and Behavior in the Intertidal Zone, Glenna Dyson-Roberts
Designing for a Pandemic: A Hands-Free Soap Dispenser, Alexis Edgar-Tanzil
Processing this Pandemic, Dana Ericksen
Assessing Impacts of Rising pCO2 on Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Swimming Mechanics, Darby Finnegan
Mixed Up, Julia Furukawa
Finding Your Story: A Podcast Series for Citizen Journalists, Media Enthusiasts and Those Alike, Ray Garcia
Competing Semantic and Phonological Constraints in Novel Binomials, Eli George
i am still holding your hand, Sophie Glessner
Sharp Power: How Foreign Election Interference is Changing the Global Balance of Power, Ethan Greene
Bramble Senior Project, Lara Haines
From Fruit Flies to the Frontline: Slow Science in a Demanding Medical Climate, Riley Haner
Fostering Resilience: Connecting Children with Dance and Movement, Emma Harbison
Multicultural Education in Secondary Science Classrooms, Kasey Hebert
The Syntax of Guaraní: A Pronominal Argument Analysis of a Noteworthy Indigenous Language, Emily Hillman
Fundraising for Families: A strategic communications campaign for Give Hope 2 Kids in Honduras, Emily Jackson
Sorting Out Sortases: Designing a Better Enzyme and Synthesizing Trapping Peptides Towards Capturing a Bound-State Structure, Katherine Johnston
Storytelling Through Comics: An Animated Reflection, Skylar Kaster
Gender Separate Effects of Human Capital on Economic Growth, Jordan King
Patterns and potential mechanisms of thermal preference in E. muscae-infected Drosophila melanogaster, Aundrea Koger, Carolyn Elya Ph.D., Jamilla Akhund-Zade Ph.D., and Benjamin de Bivort Ph.D.
Crisis State: Locating Populism's Conceptual Core, Noah Latsch
Characterizing the Behavior of Mutated Proteins with EMCAP: the Energy Minimization Curve Analysis Pipeline, Matthew Lee, Bodi Van Roy, and Filip Jagodzinski
The Political Economy of Nuclear Energy: Why there is not broad public support for nuclear policy & why there should be, Willa Grace Mei Lee
Oswald of Northumbria: Pagan Hero, Christian Saint, Caleb Lyon
Chalk Drawings: A Series, Sophia Marble
Is the Risk Worth It?, Porter McMichael
Inventing America: National Politics in the New Republic, Stuart Medalen
What If Society Changed?: A Collection of Dystopian Stories, Mara Miller
Daju Dar Daju, Ruth Myers
Speaking the Unspeakable: Intellectual Virtues of Unconventional Communication, Mac Neaville
An Emergent Literary Theory: The Darker Haptic Counterpart, Micala Nitz
Robust and Simple Synthesis of CIS/ZnS Refined for High Luminescence in the Near-IR, Maya Noesen
Evaluating Impacts of Nanopesticides and Microplastics in an Agricultural Rhizosphere, Emma Nordlund and Manuel Montaño
Consider the Ravens: An Exploration of Anxiety, Mckenzie Oliver
NimbleKnow User Documentation, Camille Estee Ottaway
Birdsong at Sunrise, Sarah Packard
Blogging Politics: How elementary students can use technology and critical analysis to learn about history and culture, Andrew Painter
An Overview of Hypotheses and Supporting Evidence Regarding Drivers of Insect Gigantism in the Permo-Carboniferous, Ryssa Parks
Red or Green? Gentrification in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Michael Patterson
Happiness Across Cultures: A Review of Subjective Well-Being in Asian Americans, Hannah R. Proctor
The Modular Table: A Potential Clue for the Future Dilemmas Concerning Bioethics in Human Genome Applications of CRISPR, Alina J. Purcell
Give Me a Mic and a Stage: A Case for Slam Poetry, Identity, and Socio-Emotional Learning in the High School Classroom, Cristina V. Ramirez