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.
2020
Good Heavens! A play in two acts, Daniel Repp
Technological Bodies, Serena Riley
A Republic in its Own Time: The Re-Imagining of Republican Theory in the Federalist Papers, Jonah Rink
H(u)ina, Hokulani Rivera
Painting Ecological Change in Pacific Northwest Bird Populations, Rachel Rothberg
“We Know We Are Forgotten”: Re-Centering Women in the Study of Economic Sanctions on Iraq, 1990-2003, Samia Saliba
Spectral Variability of Weathered Basalts and Sandstones, Isabella Seppi
The Gendered Political Economy of Africa: How the Empowerment of Women in Smallholder Farms Can Spearhead Economic Growth, Mayzie Shaver
Original Environmental Education Lessons and Curriculum, Waverly Shreffler
COVID-19: Isolation and Vaccinations, Jesika Smith
The Effects of Different String Positions of the Bow on Right Scapular Kinematics in Experienced Violin Players, Shannon Stein, Jun San Juan, Sarah Pine, and Stephanie Hall
Taste of Place and Provenance, Alison Stevens
Investigating the effects of glutamate trafficking and receptor mutations on the unfolded protein response (UPR) in C. elegans, Savanna Takasaki
Creating an Inclusive Culture in Cycling: The Story of Spoke Folx, Chuck Tookey
Call of the Chorus Frog: An Undergraduate Experience in Field Research in the Elwha River Basin, Nicole VandePutte
The Secret Life of Objects, Tessa Vroom
Seasonal Differences in the Optical Properties of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter at Hoag’s Pond, WA, Kimberly Wallace
Controversial Speakers - What a University Ought to Do, Elizabeth Webb
Knitting Math: Geometric Shapes, Cynthia Wright
An Investigation into Morocco's Water Crisis, Elliese Wright
2019
The Best Medicine: An Exploration of Laughter and Dark Comedy, Helen Anderson
An Investigation of Plastic Ubiquity and the Redundancy of Waste, Barbara Avery
Seeking Asylum: Immigration Law in the Context of Human Rights, Hannah Blank
She Is: A Poetry Collection, Emma Braun
Women in the First Crusade and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Maria Carriere
The Next Generation Science Standards: Saving K-12 Science Education, Kaitlin Caylor
Memes and Metamodernism: An Analysis of a Medium, Epiphanie Couture
Whose Decision Is It, Anyway? An Analysis of Modern-Day Jury Selection Processes, Macallan F. Craig
Exploring Trauma, Healing, and Accountability through Music, Mieke Johanna Doezema
Acting is Reacting; Acting is Coping?, Oceana Marie Dunsire
Effects of Finger Taping on Forearm Muscle Activation in Rock Climbers, Brynne Dykes, Julianna Johnson, and Jun G. San Juan
Robodoc: Ethics of AI in Medicine, Halley Egnew
Women and Gaming Culture: A Pilot Study on the Experience of Feminine Individuals Entering the Video Game Community, Molly Engelberg
One Nation Under God: Navigating Tensions Between American Culture, Christianity, and Education, Cassie Engvall
Framing Feminism: How U.S. and French Media Frame #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc from a Feminist Perspective, Kira Erickson
Temporal and Spatial Variability of Carbonate Chemistry in a Tillamook Bay Tributary: Tracing Acidification from the River to the Bay, Abigail Ernest-Beck
Negotiating the Boundaries of Solarpunk Literature in Environmental Justice, Kenneth Farver
The Subject(s) of Feminism: Gender Identity, Emotion, and Deconstruction in Contemporary Feminist Politics, Gwen Frost
Against the Grain: A Philosophical Case for Requiring Service-Learning, Not Volunteer Hours, Among College Students, Daniel Gallegos
Protein Quality Control at the Endoplasmic Reticulum and Nucleus in Caenorhabditis elegans, Daniel Hassell
The Birchwood Food Desert: a Neighborhood's Fight for Food Justice, Kate Haworth
Quick Guide to Plant Families of Western Washington, Maggie Hayward, John D. Tuxill, and James M. Helfield
Equity in STEM: Utilizing Student Experience to Better Inform Policy and Practice, Natasha Hessami
The Old Leopold Hotel, Hailey J. Hoffman
From Adoptees to You, Iris Hubbard and Saige Wilde
Museums in a Shifting Paradigm: Defining a New “Traditional”, Cejay Johnson
Sociology Department Climate Survey, Emma Johnson
Critical Environmental Theory: Examining the Mainstream Environmental Movement with a Critical Race Theory Analysis, Madeleine Jones
Do Men Matter? In Statistics, Probably, Michael Kelly
Women's Agency in Movements of Collective Violence, Juliet Knowles
Rising Expenditures on Pets, Rachel Marsh
Wildfire Education in Washington School Districts, Jessica Martin
The Microbiome and Medicine: The Relationship between Early-life Colonization and Health Outcomes such as Asthma and Allergies, Madeline May
Trauma in the Classroom: A Manual for Training University Faculty and Staff in Survivor Support, Laura Meerdink
A More Sustainable Future: Energy Efficiency Policies in Buildings, Campbell Miller
Origin of the Lorelei, Kerstin Miller
Public Meetings: Barriers and Solutions, Pauline Mogilevsky
The Fuck is Going On? The Grammaticalization of Taboo Words in English, Laura E. Munger
Diamonds and Toads: An Adaptation of Charles Perrault’s Les Fées, Jessi Pitts
Tinder Tales: Examining Variations in The Process and Outcomes of Dating, Gracie Rauen
Sustaining Our Communities Through Care and Action: An Exploration of Indigenous, Feminist Environmental Care Ethics, Kate Rayner Fried
Friday Night Lights: A Photo Gallery Normalizing the Psychological Struggles Faced by Student Athletes, Sam J. Reardon
Finance in the Fifth Dimension: Lessons in Logic for the Social Sciences, Dawson J. Sanders
Understanding Empowerment Through Virtue Theory, Jane Somerville
The Reason: A Young Adult Novel Exploring Efficiency and Artificial Intelligence, Kira Stussy
Investigation of Nanoparticle Microplastic Analogs for Environmental Assessment, Star Summer
Regional Textile Production: Mapping the Pacific Northwest Fiber Network, Caroline Vogl
The Silmarillion: An Examination of Secondary Belief in Tolkien’s Seminal Fantasy Mythos, Kai August Wittenberg
Library Strategic Planning: Impacting Change on a Local Level, Elizabeth Yarbrough
2018
Persistence of Common Myths and Misconceptions Regarding Dyslexia Among Preservice Teacher Populations, Grace Barr
Gender Discrepancy in Asexual Identity: The Effect of Hegemonic Gender Norms on Asexual Identification, Tori Bianchi
Runaway Slave Advertisements from Loyalist Newspapers of the Maritime Colonies, Sarah Elizabeth Chute
Systemic Racism Curriculum Project: Site Mapping, Matthew Ferris
Lost in Translation: How the Way We Talk about Math and Science isn't Helping Anyone, Jonathan Flynn
Queer(ed) Monstrous Embodiment, Kyla Hupp Garlid
Dissolved Organic Carbon Bioreactivity in Stream Environments, Rachel Geiger, Joe Lee-Cullin, Jay Zarnetske, and Tyler Hampton
Exploration of Peptide-Thiophene Hybrids as Self-Assembling Conductive Hydrogels, Ellie I. James
The Athena Effect: Strong Womxn or Straw Womxn?, Alyssa Kaufman
Using SEM Micrographs to Examine Hydrothermal Vent Samples, Ceona Koch
An Analysis of the effects of Mocs1 upregulation on lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster, Michael Lee
An Examination of Hippotherapy as a Tool to Deliver Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy, Madison Leidig
On the Outskirts of Europe: Mikhail Glinka and his Spanish Overtures, Natalie Olivia Maeda
Deblurring Images, Jamie McMullen
Conceptual Metaphor and its Role in the Composition, Performance, and Consumption of Music, Loren Natario
The Compatibility of Mindfulness-Based Therapy and Adventure Therapy for Effectuating Change in SUD Populations, Kelly Oberbillig
Representations of Indigenous Cultures in Today’s Museums and Impacts on Cultural Tourists, Rachel Perkins
Politics of Reproductive Justice: Planned Parenthood Activism in Shades of Blue, Red, and Pink, Sarah Petry
The Goal of the Translator: Questioning the Impossibility of a Perfect Translation, Stephanie Payette Piccioni
Understanding Sexual Consent: Examining Affirmative Sexual Consent and Affirmative Sexual Consent Policies in the College Context, Rachael Redjou
Pills, Needles, Support: Spiritual Care Can Improve Communication, and Compassion in the Healthcare Industry, Emily Schneider
Examining the Use of EMI in Primary and Secondary English Classes in Taiwan: Reflections on Participation in the WWU/NTNU Cloud Project, Leah R. Sharaby
The Fear of Things to Come: Science Fiction Before and After World War II, Scott St. Clair
Crab Tracker Documentation, Noah Strong, Margot Maxwell, Chloe Yugawa, and Elizabeth Schoen
Failure to launch: A short history of health care reform in the United States, Claire Talbert
The Energy Imbalance Market: Environmental Benefits of Regional Market Integration in the West, Kristen E. Tarr