Theses are the culmination of honor students independent research under the guidance of faculty members and are representative of Union College's commitment to giving students the tools necessary for life-long learning.
Theses/Dissertations from 2013
The Ideological Reconstruction of Southern Elite White Women Before During and After Reconstruction, Lindsey Halse
Microscopy of Microfeatured and Nanofeatured Samples, Ryan Harris
Competing Life Insurance Purchasing Strategies: Whole Life Versus Buy Term Invest the Differences, Jordon Hastings
May the Best Person Not Lose, Nicholas Hayes
Analysis of Degenerative Cervical Spondylolisthesis and Corrective Orthopaedic Implants, Tyler Heck
History of Concussion Research in American Football, Timothy Hersey
Foreign Policy Crisis Decision-Making in the Middle East during the 1990-1991 Gulf Crisis: A Study of Israel and Jordan, Aubree Heydrick
Galois Theory, Tokuei Higashino
Investigating the Use of Aptamers in Binding to the Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone receptor, Ayon Ibrahim
Photographing Anthropologists Photographing Cultures, Nirmala Jayaraman
Seeing Flight: Ancient Greek Theories of Vision and Their Application to Winged Sculptures, Jessica John
Maternal stress and support in light of sibling relationships for families of developmentally disabled children, Olivia Joyce
Irish Travellers and the Transformative Nature of Media Representation, Aisling Kearns
Positionality of Income: An Exploration of the Influence of Cognition, Najiba Keshwani
Moving Forward from the Arab Spring: Predicting the Level of Democracy in a Nation Post-Revolution, Faraz Khan
Synthesis of Cell-Permeable Variants of Trehalose for Use in the Cryopreservation of Mammalian Cells, Faraz Khan
Lessons From Florence: The Savonarolan Movement, Joseph Kiernan
South Carolina: From a State of Rebellion to a State of Change A Study of Reconstruction in South Carolina from 1866-1872 Through A Partisan Press, Samantha Killeen
The Role of Relative BMI Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Impacts on Happiness Within the United States, Colin Knox
INMIGRACION Y GÉNERO: LA REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA MUJER INMIGRANTE EN EL CINE ESPAÑOL CONTEMPORÁNEO, Jenna Langhans
Beyond Myrkwood For Orchestra, Amanda Laven
Why Are We So Interested In Buddhism?, Victoria Leach
Stick-Man Logic, David Leung
Cloning and expression of Schizophyllum commune metacaspase gene scp3, Ethan Loew
Emancipating Modern Slaves: The Challenges of Combating the Sex Trade, Rachel Mann
Elections with Three Candidates Four Candidates and Beyond: Counting Ties in the Borda Count with Permutahedra and Ehrhart Quasi-Polynomials, Adam Margulies
Proton Induced X-ray Emission Spectrometry of Atmospheric Aerosols at Piseco Lake, Adam Margulies
The Design of Patient-Specific Implants to Treat Bone Cancer, Shelby Marks
The Public History of John Adams: How and Why a Fresh Portrayal of the Founding Father Americans Previously Looked Past Has Recently Formed, Brianna McCarthy
Using computer games as a tool: can performance on computer games be used to measure intelligence?, Stephanie McCarthy
Resistance is Futile: The Tragedy of Female Entrapment in Faulkner and O Connor's Short Stories, Victoria McIntyre
La langue ou la culture: laquelle est arrivée en premier?, Robert Meeson
Cognitive Effects of Combined Physical and Mental Exercise: Interactive vs. Synchronous, Caitlin Moore
Design and Feasibility Testing of an Alternative Valve System for Internal Combustion Engines, Christopher Mulford
The Power of Games: Assessing the Ability of Computer Games to Measure Mood and Personality, Katherine Murray
The Effect of Self-Esteem and Prosocial Tendencies on Helping Behavior in the Bystander Effect, Alexandra Napp
Political Culpability:Exploring Scapegoat Figures in Roman Antiquity, Anh Thao Nguyen
Gender, Self-Esteem and Athleticism as they predict Binge Drinking Behaviors Among College Students, Catherine O'Brien
An Analysis of Horizontal Gas Drilling and its Impact on Spot Market Pricing: A Focus on the Marcellus Shale Production Potential, Samuel O'Connell
Construire, déconstruire, et dépasser le mythe du gitan en France, Ellis Otti
As I Am Changing: A Conversation, Sheri Park
Unconscious Automatons on Facebook, Adam Pere
Mary Tudor and the Politics of Gender, Melissa E. Procton
The Legal and Moral Implications of Evolving Media and Copyright, Michael A. Rivkin
A Comparison of New Skill Acquisition: Athletes and Musicians, Emily M. Rudolph
Are the Mass Killings in China and Cambodia an example of genocide?, Amanda H. Schlossberg
Maximum Power Point Tracking Device for a Photovoltaic Panel, Betsy Schwartz
Bird Mortality in the Human Built Environment, Stacie Schwartz
Modifications vs. Modernization: Korean Gayageum in the 20th Century, Soun Sheen
Cultivating Americans:19th Century College Football and American Identity, Carleton Shorey
Allies or Rivals? The Study of Sibling Closeness in Young Adulthood, Jennifer Silvershein
Unguaranteed Money in the NFL: A Useful Tool for Risky Players, Wayne Simpson
Survival Processing and False Memories, Arielle Siniapkin
Raptness and Reticence: The Circumstances that Created These Beautiful Faces, Jacqueline Smith
Designing a Self-Powered Device to Aid in Fencing Training and Scoring, Zak Smolen
The effect of canopy organization on the photosynthesis of Sphagnum, Brian Solinsky
Friend Me on Facebook: A Generational Study of the Effects of Facebook on American Friendships, Brenda Souza
You Saw You See: Wrestling With and Learning to Trust God Through 1st and 2nd Samuel A Collection of Poems, Paul Stack
Comparison of wild and cultivated extracts of Cordyceps sinensis apoptotic potential, Katelyn Staring
The Right to Die, Samantha Steenburn
Automobiles Autarky and Authority: The Effects of Nazi Centralized Economic Planning 1932-1942, Andrew Stinchfield
Do You Believe? Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as Historical Artifacts, Tamara Stone
Impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline on North American Crude Oil Prices, Shawn Ian Stuart
How your past can influence your perceptions of sports aggression, Christopher Sullivan
An Algebraic Approach to Number Theory using Unique Factorization, Mark Sullivan
Design of a Gas Conditioning System for the Second Generation Union College Areogel Lab Catalytic Test Bed, Thomas Swanton
The Effect of Trait Anxiety on the Fundamental Attribution Error, Eliot Tear
Education and Liberation: A Look at the Early Development and Directions of the Virginia Public School System (1879-1899), John B. Terzian
The Great European Empires: British and Roman Rule, Edward A. Tomlinson
Pick Up My Life & Take It With Me: Promises and Pitfalls of the Early Twentieth Century African-American Great Migration from the South to North Thesis, Kadiatou A. Tubman
16th Annual SAMPE Student Bridge Contest: Design of a Wood Core Flax Fiber-Reinforced Composite I-Beam, Robert J. Wagner
Measurement of Skin Friction Drag on Hydrophobic Silica Aerogel Surfaces with Potential Application to Technical Swimsuit Design, Matthew R. Wahl
Characterizing the Polyodon digestive tract, Todd W. Wechter
Faith Simulation Perceptions of Religious Reality in Science Fiction Media, Alexandra S. Weisse
Development and Validation of a Computational Model for Studying Secondary Droplet Breakup in Time-Varying Flows, Brandan A. West
Identifying Business Strategies that are Efficient in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A DEA Meta-Frontier Approach, Matthew I. Wetzel
An Analysis of Polynomials that Commute Under Composition, Samuel J. Williams
Redefining the "Reality Picture" by Reassessing Feminist Themes in the Early Cyberpunk Works of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, Samuel J. Williams
How to Maximize the Profit for Bidder and Seller in a Sealed-Bid Second-Price Auction, Wei Yu
Myth and Medicine: An Exploration of Dream-Healing in Asklepieia, Omer Zaidi
The Non-Profit Education System in Cambodia: Case Study of Two Programs, Sasha I. Zuflacht
Theses/Dissertations from 2012
Mechanical Characterization of an External Fixator for Use in a Mouse Model, Thomas Albano
He Shoots He Scores: The effect of Mortality Salience on Risky Decisions in a Basketball Task as a Function of Competition and Self-Esteem, Alexandra M. Aldeborgh
Obesity in the United States: The Food Environment and How It Is Linked to Obesity, Meredith Allenick
Hurlement: une traduction du poeme « Howl», Emilie Arseneault
Our Future Ambiguity: Broadening Sexual Definitions, Emilie Arseneault
Queen Bees: An Examination of the Mean Girl Phenomenon, Danielle Ayers
Time to cry over spilled milk: An investigation into China's food safety system, Rachel Baker
Design Construction and Testing of a Flying Prey Simulator, Max L. Balter
End of Life Decisions in the NICU: The Value of New Life and the Degree to Which Religion Plays a Role in These Ethical Decisions, Maria Battaglia
Melting and Freezing of Nano Scaled 1-decanol, Hillary Bauer
The role of actin polymerization in the development of the fetal vertebrate heart during S-looping, Kevan Benn
You've been PUNK'D! The subcultural evolution of punk during La Movida and Generation X, Alison Berg