Interdisciplinary Studies

The Honors Program for interdisciplinary students awards Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors to student research projects. The projects listed below have been defended successfully, and a copy of the thesis deposited in Swem Library.

Key:

Student, "Thesis" (Honors level)
Committee Chair + Other Committee Members

2023-2024

Elizabeth Annette Dell, "Young Women's Diagnostic Experiences in an RVU-Driven Healthcare Market" (High Honors)
Monica Griffin + Jennifer Putzi, Jennifer Mellor, Leisa Meyer
Lucia Camille Kasper, "Shared Nightmares: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Sleep Paralysis and the Role of Cultural Background on Its Expression" (Honors)
Joanna Schug + Joanna Schug, Kevin Vose, Jerry Watkins III

2019-2020

Martha Gizaw, "Gait Characterization Using Computer Vision Video Analysis" (Honors)
William Cooke + Evie Burnet, Keith Griffioen, Dennis Manos
Ella Kasten, "Material Affection: An Exploration of Materiality in the Anthropocene" (Honors)
Elizabeth Mead + Ed Pease, Martha Case
Xingyu Zheng, "Modeling Hybrid Novel Traits: A case study in complex petal pigment patterning in hybrid Mimulus" (Honors level)
Joshua Puzey, Gregory Smith + Liz Allison, Junping Shi
Aleyah Gowell, ""The Most Eloquent Dissents:" Writ Writing at Parchman Penitentiary" (High Honors)
Jackson Sasser + Christine Nemacheck, Adrienne Petty
Grace Solini, "Comparative analysis of the compensatory responses to Notch signaling perturbation during embryonic development in Xenopus species" (Honors)
Margaret Saha + Dennis Manos, Dana Willner, Leah Shaw

2018-19

Melanie Carter, "Identity in Flux: Gender Norms and the English Language in Today’s Ukraine" (High Honors)
Elena Prokhorova + Clair McKinney, Alexander Prokhorov, Frederick Corney
Cassandra Chang, "Flow Dynamics in the Oral and Opercular Cavities of the American Shad (Alosa sapidissima)" (Honors)
S. Laurie Sanderson + Heather Sasinowska
Villemaire Choo, "The New Covenant: Welfare Reform and American Exceptionalism"
Claire McKinney + Chris Howard, Caroline Hanley
Benjamin Fox, "Meridian"
Jonathan Glasser + Tanya Stadelmann, Charles Palermo
Mollie Gaines, "Calculating a Drought Vulnerability Index for South Africa based on Social and Biophysical Characteristics" (Honors)
Dan Runfola + Matthias Leu, Shannon White
Ethan Jones, "Creation and Characterization of Synthetic Biological Tools for Modular Genetic Circuit Design"
Margaret Saha + Drew LaMar, Myriam Cotten, Helen Murphy
Callan Monette, "The use of foundational mathematical modeling techniques to inform understanding & design of complex biological systems" (Honors)
Margaret Saha + Eric Bradley, Greg Smith, Mark Forsyth
Yorick Oden-Plants, "Modelling Deer-Vehicle Collisions on Virginia Roads" (Honors)
Randolph Chambers + Robert Rose, Andrew Fisher
Emily Pearson-Beck, "Immigration and Belonging: Chinese Immigration to Argentina 论阿根廷中国移民的归属感及身份认同"
Michael Iyanaga + Silvia Tandeciarz, Michael Hill
Joshua Sacks, "Impacts of Harmful Algal Blooms on Dissolved Organic Carbon in the Lower York River Estuary" (Highest Honors)
Mark Brush and Iris Anderson + Rachel O’Brien
Rachel Wilson, "A stage-structured oyster population model for reef restoration" (Honors)
Leah Shaw + Deborah Morse, Suzanne Raitt, Kathrin Levitan
Rebecca Youngerman, "A Data-Driven Approach to Quantifying Perceptions of Drivers in Kenyan Health Care Quality" (Honors)
Dan Runfola + Camilla Buchanan, Carrie Dolan

2017-18

Kalen Clifton, "Quantitative Approaches in Bioengineering" (Honors)
Margaret Saha + Eric Bradley, Greg Conradi-Smith, Mainak Patel
Sora Edwards-Thro, "'Istwa Sa A Pa Senp': Body, Land, And Family In Haitian Afrofuturist Fiction" (Highest Honors)
Kara Thompson + Elizabeth Losh, Hermine Pinson, Iyabo Osiapem
Jesse Granger, "Diatomaceous Solar Cells" (Honors)
William Cooke + Dennis Manos, Kristin Wustholz, Irina Novikova
Heather Lawrence, "Imagining Oppression in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction" (High Honors)
Monica Griffin + Thomas Linneman, Lindy Johnson
Alaina Shreves, "An Epidemiology Analysis of the Clinical Experiences of Patients with Screened Genetic Disorders: Sickle Cell Disease" (Highest Honors)
Monica Griffin + Elyas Bakhtiari, Camilla Buchanan

2016-17

Matthew Adan, "Empirical Measures of Collective Capacity: A Social Network Approach" (Honors)
David Aday + Francie Cate-Arries, Amy Quark
Eboni Brown, "Creating Culturally Reflective Curriculum for Secondary Social Studies Classrooms" (Honors)
Anne Charity-Hudley + Simon Stow, Lenneal Henderson
Zihao Chen, "Interactions between Fiscal and Monetary Policy: A New Keynesian Model with Regime Switching Process" (Honors)
Nathaniel Throckmorton + Ross Iaci, Robert Lewis
Jenifer Hartley, "Operating Under Uncertainty: The Public and Private Funding of Domestic Violence Service Providers in Virginia" (Honors)
Claire McKinney + Suzanne Raitt, Christopher Howard
Emmaleah Jones, "Where the Sidewalk Ends: Reimagining Urban Place and Governance in Semarang, Indonesia" (Honors)
Joseph Jones + Tomoko Hamada, David Aday, Robert Rose
Stephanie Levin, "Chilling the Right to a Jury Trial: The Unconstitutionality of Jury Costs" (Honors)
Jackson Sasser + Adam Gershowitz, Christine Nemacheck
Rachel Merriman-Goldring, "Words Matter: A Study of Justice-Oriented Communication by Chesapeake Bay Environmental Nonprofits" (Honors)
Alan Braddock + Sarah Stafford, Carey Bagdassarian
Quinn Monette, "Natural Debts, Natural Dangers: An Ideology of Nation-State and Subject in an Immunology Text" (Honors)
William Fisher + Kara Thompson, Gregory Smith
Meagan Phillips, "Animating Animals: Exploring Modes of Animal Representation in Classic Animated Children’s Films" (High Honors)
Alan Braddock + Mark Fowler, Deborah Morse, Tanya Stadelmann
Liam Shaw, "Latinx Voices in Animated Children's Film" (High Honors)
Anne Charity-Hudley + Katherine Barko-Alva, Arthur Knight

2015-16

Jonah Fishel, "Storyboard: Finding the Formula for Effective Co-telling" (Honors)
Joel Schwartz + Leslie Cochrane, Chelsey Johnson
Alexandra Granato, ""Yeah, But You Rape Women": Hannibal Buress and the Comedy Community's Role in Shaping Public Opinion of the Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Allegations" (High Honors)
Grey Gundaker + Francesca Sawaya, Timothy Barnard
Reynolds Hahamovitch, "Molded from Clay: The Portrayal of Jews through the Golem in Yudel Rosenberg’s The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague and Gustav Meyrink’s Der Golem" (Honors)
Robert Leventhal + Ronald Schechter, Jonathan Glasser
Andrew Halleran, "Embryonic Response to Notch Signaling Perturbation" (Honors)
Margaret Saha + Chrisopher Del Negro, Dennis Manos, Greg Smith
Jin Hyuk Ho, "Why We Need Asian Pacific Islander American Studies" (Highest Honors)
Francis Tanglao-Aguas + Tomoko Hamada Connolly, Benedito Ferrao
So Dam Hong, "Understanding North Korea in the Korean Diaspora: Teaching North Korea to American Students" (High Honors)
Francis Tanglao-Aguas + Benedito Ferrao, Joanne Braxton, Stephen Sheehi
Ebony Lambert, "Unpacking the Psychosocial Effects of Institutional Racism" (Highest Honors)
Anne Charity Hudley + Cheryl Dickter, Hermine Pinson
Natalie Libster, "Breastfeeding Initiation Among Women Who Have Experience with Incarceration" (Honors)
Danielle Dallaire + Joseph Jones, Christy Porter, Peter Vishton
Erik Nelson, "Memory, Narrative, and Identity Shifts in Modern Ireland" (Honors)
Simon Joyce + Lena Prokhorova, Jennifer Stevens
Jillian Sequeira, "Antifascist Graffiti: Crime or Contribution?" (Highest Honors)
Kathleen Boyle + Monica Seger, Maria Swetnam-Burland, Sergio Ferrarese
Ming Siegel, "What is Your Present Religion, if any? None, not Nun." (High Honors)
Christine Nemacheck + Jackson Sasser, Leisa Meyer
Ryan Yan, "Species Invasion in a Network Population Model" (Honors)
Leah Shaw + Harmony Dalgleish, Sarah Day, Drew LaMar
Benming Zhang, "Arthur Matsu's College Years: Historicizing His 1920s Experiences" (Honors)
Benedito Ferrao + Francis Tanglao-Aguas, Michael Iyanaga

2014-15

Kyle DeMaria, "Spatial Patterns of Municipal Annexation and the Impact on the Cost of Public Services" (Honors)
Peter McHenry + Sibel Zandi-Sayek and Rui Pereira
Sarah Goggin, "The Role of Histone Modifying Enzyme SUV420H2 in Pediatric Ependymoma" (Honors)
Matthew Wawersik + Oliver Kerscher, Robin Looft-Wilson and Timothy Van Meter
Rebecca Heine, "The Pendragon Cycle: Celtic Christianity in the Arthurian Legend through Bards, Prophets,and Historians" (Honors)
Monica Potkay + John Conlee, Erin Minear and Fred Smith
Julie Krask, "Novel Pathways to Dinitrogen Formation Via Iron-mediated Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation" (Highest Honors)
Aaron Beck + Randy Chambers, Greg Hancock and Bongkeun Song
Emily Mahoney, "Evidence Uptake Among International Nutrition Actors: A Case Study in Uganda" (Honors)
Scott Ickes + David Aday and Amy Quark
Chloe Miksovic, "'How Do They Do It?': Characteristics of Successful Teachers of African American Students" (High Honors)
Jeremy Stoddard + Jamel Donnor and Leah Glenn
Laura Pugh, "'The River Erodes Everything:' Health, Hygiene, and Human Development in Karamoja, Uganda" (Honors)
Scott Ickes + Drew LaMar and Elizabeth Yost
Alison Roberts, "Balancing the Scales: Examining relationships between Maternal Agency and Stunting in Differing Developing World Contexts" (Honors)
Scott Ickes + Phil Roessler and Matthias Leu
Lillian Singer, "An Analysis of State and Nationwide Legislation on Women's Healthcare Access in Virginia" (Honors)
David Aday + Victoria Castillo and Camilla Buchanon
Jackson Stone, "3D Printing" (Honors)
Carey Bagdassarian + Joshua Erlich and Paul Davies
Casey Thompson, "The Erosion of Brianzolo: The Impact of Standard Italian on a Dialect and a Cultural Identity" (Highest Honors)
Katie Boyle + Monica Seger, Katherine Kulick and Jack Martin
Stephanie Wraith, "Assessing the Role of Maternal and Community Capabilities in Preventing Childhood Diarrhea" (Honors)
Scott Ickes + David Aday and Alison Scott

2013-14

Taylor Charest, "Suspicion of Shots: Examining the Relationship Between the State, Society, and Health in India" (High Honors)
Chitralekha Zutshi + Scott Ickes, Deenesh Sohoni
Mary Grech, "Towards an Understanding of Race and Academic Achievement in the Lives of African American Students" (Honors) Jamel K. Donnor + Robert Vinson, Jeremy Stoddard
Robert Marty, "Taking the Aid Debate to the Sub-National Level: Impact and Allocation of Foreign Health Aid in Malawi" (Honors)
Matthias Leu + David Aday, Carlisle Moody
John Mulhall, "A Byzantine Adam: Explicating the Suda's Encomiastic Entry on Adam" (Honors) John Donahue + Alexander Angelov, Monica Potkay
Erin Spencer, "Association Between Invasive Lionfish and Native Fish Species in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean" (Honors)
Doug DeBerry + James E. Perry, III, Randolph Chambers, Jonathan Allen

2012-13

Jaclyn Carroll, "The Nonprofit Industrial Complex & Critical Methodologies of Community Engaged Scholarship" (High Honors)
Monica Griffin + Joel Schwartz, Kara Thompson
Katherine Kaugars, "Heritable Variation in Responsiveness to Photoperiod, Reproduction, and Immune Function in a Population of Peromyscus leucopus" (Honors)
Paul Heideman + Eric Bradley, Patty Zwollo
Ani-Rae Lovell, "Deference or Defiance: State Court Treatment of Blaine Amendments" (Highest Honors)
Christine Nemacheck + Jackson Sasser, James Dwyer
Avery Newton, "State Education Leadership and Exit Examination Policy: A Study of Centralization and Partisanship" (Honors)
Paul Manna + John Gilmour, Virginia McLaughlin
Michael Schilling, "Language Attitudes of University of Cape Town Linguistics Sudents towards Codeswitching" (Highest Honors)
Iyabo Osiapem + Talbot Taylor, Lawrence Leemis
Huan Song, "Paradise Lost: A Vulnerability Analysis of Vernazza, Italy after the 2011 Natural Disaster" (High Honors)
Tonya Boone + Anita Angelone, Todd Mooradian, Robert Hicks
Charlotte Tregelles, "Understanding the Effects of Prison Nursery Programs on Previously Incarcerated Mothers' Parenting Confidence" (Highest Honors)
Christine Nemacheck + Graham Ousey, Nancy Gray

2011-12

Emily Gottschalk-Marconi, "The DREAM Act: Extending Citizenship to Members of the 1.5 Generation and Consequences for American Democracy" (Highest Honors)
Joel Schwartz + Monica Griffin, Simon Stow
Danielle Greene, "The Opportunity Gap in the Age of Accountability: Experiences of Students from One Urban District" (High Honors)
Jeremy Stoddard + Jody Allen, Jamel Donnor
Emily Orzechowski, "Meta-analysis of Extinction Selectivity in Fossil Marine Bivalves and Gastropods" (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood + Jonathan Allen, Jarrett Byrnes, Martha Case
Sarah Salino, "Close to Home: The Use of an Area-Based Socioeconomic Measure as an Indicator of Chlamydia Risk in Virginia" (Honors)
Carrie Dolan + Brian Blouet, Scott Ickes
Yuezhu Sun, "A Harmonious Family Prospers in Everything: China's One-Child Policy and Dynamics of Parent-Child Relationships in Beijing Families" (Highest Honors)
Tomoko Hamada Connolly + TJ Cheng, Joanna Schug, Emily Wilcox

2010-11

Brittany Calloway, "An Exploration of Discipline Strategies in Middle Schools" (Honors)
Lori Korinek + Ann Charity Hudley, Jamel Donnor
Heart Hettinger, "'Manufacturing a Renaissance:' An Ethnographic Study of Controlled Creativity in Singapore" (High Honors)
Joan Gavaler + Mary Ann Melfi, Eric Han, Leah Glenn
Michelle Munyikw, "Aggravated Aggregates: The Role of a Retroviral Oncoprotein and Pseudophosphates in Cellular Responses" (Honors)
Shanta Hinton + Liz Allison, Mark Forsyth, Lisa Landino
Briana Paxton, "What About Braxton Court?: Historic Preservation in Williamsburg, Virginia." (Honors)
Sibel Zandi-Sayek + Ed Pease, Caroline Hanley
Olivia Walch, "Modeling synaptic facilitation and depression in thalamocortical relay cells" (Honors)
Gregory Smith + Leah Shaw, John Griffin

2009-10

Nicholas Belanger, "Comprehensive Discursive Organizing: Rethinking Political Representation and Community Organizing through a Discursive Lens" (High Honors)
Joel Schwartz + Monica Griffin, Phillip Brendese
Candace Bond, "The Revolution Will Be Recognized" (Honors)
Leisa Meyer + Robert Vinson, James D. La Fleur
Christine Dang, "Chinese Environmental Policy: The New Ministry" (Honors)
Tun-jen Cheng + Kemi George, Dan Cristol
Jennifer Garrott, "Crossroads of Conflict: Prince William County during the Civil War" (High Honors)
Sharon Zuber + James Whittenburg, Arthur Knight, Jennifer Putzi
Christopher Silveira, "An Urban Morphology of Fresno, CA: Its Structure and Growth" (Honors)
Brian Blouet + James Whittenburg, Salvatore Saporito

2008-09

Reina Chamberlain, "Persistence of Intermittent Hypoxia Exposure Acclimation to Simulated High Altitude" (Highest Honors)
Kenneth Kambis + Erica Jackson, David Aday
Max Christie,"Ecological Interactions Across a Plio-Pleistocene Interval of Faunal Turnover: Naticid Cannibalism North and South of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina" (Honors)
Rowan Lockwood
Clarissa Delgado, "Looking Backwards and Forwards: Developing the Archaic and the Modern in Phillippine Sustainable Design" (Honors)
Sibel Sayek + Ed Pease, Greg Hancock, Eric Engstrom
Elizabeth Honenberger, "Engaging Local Ideas about Healthy Eating to Combat Protein-Energy Malnutrition in West Africa: The Centrality of Mothers to Kwashiorkor Prevention in Ghana" (High Honors)
James LaFleur + Liz Allison, Susan Walkley
Kate McClure, "Phylogenetic relationships and morphological changes in Venericardiaon the Gulf Coastal Plain during the Paleogene" (High Honors)
Rowan Lockwood

2007-08

Audrey Anderson, "Japanese Architectural Values through Time: Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian House and the Creation of a Modern Japanese-Usonian Hybrid" (High Honors)
Ed Pease + Karen Mulder, Tomoko Kato
Emily Geizhals, "Simultaneous Presence and Absence: Representation of the Holocaust at the Jewish Museum Munich" (High Honors)
P.J. Brendese + Robert Levanthal, Leisa Meyer, Ryan Carey (Simon's Rock College)
Jeree Harris, "From Brown v. Board to Parents v. Seattle: the Future and Constitutionality of Desegregation in American Public Schools" (High Honors)
Christine Nemacheck + Paul Manna, Anne Charity, Deenesh Sohoni
Jordan Howell, "Community Supported Agriculture as Revitalization: Reconnecting the Farm and the Dinner Table"; (Abstract) (High Honors)
Eric Engstrom + Joel Schwartz, Bill Fisher, Charley Maloney
Manisha Reuben, "The Polio Imbroglio: India's Health Care Paralysis" (Honors)
Rani Mullen + Marc Sher, Rene Cabral-Daniels
Sarah Thomas, "From Shadwell to Monticello: The Material Culture of Slavery, 1760-1774" (Highest Honors)
Susan Kern + James P. Whittenburg, Anita Angelone
Anne Wanlund, "Duty of Assistance: American Aid to 'Burdened Societies' and the Philosophy of John Rawls" (Honors)
Paula Pickering + Joel Schwartz, Alan Fuchs, Mark Smith

2006-07

Rachel Berryman, "Analysis of Arts Accessibility Through Comminity Engagement" (High Honors)
Christopher Owen + Clyde Haulman, Richard Palmer, Chris Scales
Jyotsna Singh, "The Use of Computational Models to Analyze ER Stress-Induced Ca2+ Dysfunction in Relation to Neuronal Cell Death" (Honors)
Randolph Coleman + Christopher Del Negro, George Gilchrist, Diane Shakes

2005-06

Cecilia Cackley, "Flexible Theater: Interpreting Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis through Music, Theater, and Dance" (Honors)
Laurie Wolf + Joan Gavaler, Richard Palmer, Glenn Shean
Stephen Carley, "The Emergence of the Cosmopolitan Ethic in the Modern Age" (High Honors)
Emile Lester + Alan Fuchs, Mark Fowler
Kyle Prickett, "Empowering and Mentorship Leadership: The Key to the Implementation of a New Delivery System for Care of Total Joint Patients" (Highest Honors)
Carey Bagdassarian + Kelly Joyce, Michael Deschenes, Michael Daise
Meghan Shapiro, "Presumption of Life: Discovery of a Due Process Failure in Capital Sentencing" (Highest Honors)
Christine Nemacheck + David Aday, Laurie Wolf