This collection includes Senior Thesis projects that were completed by undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville who as a result graduated With Highest Distinction from the College (prior to 2024, this designation was Summa Cum Laude). It also includes retrospective honors theses from years prior, with permission of the authors.
Theses/Dissertations from 2025
Design Dogma: Redefining Tradition and Innovation Through Mahjong., Isabel L. Ahnemiller
Two-player trick-taking games on bipartite tournaments., Allan Bagley
Ballard_Delaney Reconstructing Diets in Iron Age Ashkelon: A Stable Isotope Analysis, Delaney Ballard
Epistemic dysfunction in American politics: The impact of misinformation on knowledge acquisition., Megan Crowley
Intersecting identities and IPV: The impact of sexual and gender minority stressors on intimate partner violence victimization across racial groups, Kameryn S. Dunn Freeman
The use of biomarker-based models in clinical settings to support early detection of and treatment for Alzheimer's disease., Steven A. Gonzales
Kentucky history is Native history: decolonizing Native portrayals in Kentucky museums., Mandala Gupta VerWiebe
The Publics of Hannah Arendt and Jürgen Habermas, Andrew Heggie
The Effects of Prenatal Cigarette Smoke Exposure on Developmental Milestones, Megan Jacobs
Investigating the Effects of Prenatal E-cigarette Exposure on Postnatal Liver Histology, Emma McClellan
Sexual and gender minority stress and risky sexual behaviors: a meta-analysis of current literature, Tobias McDaniels
Antiproliferative effects of Salvia on breast cancers., Allison C. Portaro
School choice and spatial equity: a comparative analysis of public and private K-12 school enrollment in three American metropolitan areas, John A. Schumacher
No unified Ableukhov: orientalism and imperialism in Andrei Bely's Petersburg., Tuesday Shaw
Understanding the properties of repair protein p26 for dry-state preservation of biological materials., Hannah Skaggs
The first of its kind--the impact of WHER-AM and WDIA in postwar Memphis radio., Emily Stucky
Populism and religious rhetoric in Spain's right-wing Vox party, Ainsley Taylor
Effects of Cadmium and Diet on Metal Accumulation and Kidney Cell Death Pathways., Justin Xu
Theses/Dissertations from 2024
Assessing the role of STIM1 and STIM2 in microglial response to spinal cord injury., Sarayu Alli
Analysis and application of the offense-defense theory: Russia, Ukraine, and history., Kirby Ballard
Early life experiences as later life predictors for criminality: Examination of public criminal records, Juliana S. Bastien
The anti-diabetic drug metformin disrupts feeding and sleeping behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster., Lucas Fitzgerald
SDF-1α mediates primary tumor escape in glioblastoma through activation of mesenchymal transitions., Charles T. Froman-Glover
Investigating pre-health students’ science identity and the factors that influence them to change programs or tracks., Taylor Humphreys
A revised synthesis of the cationic lipids DMRI and MLRI, Benjamin A. Kostic
Investigating the role of feature integration demands on attention efficiency., Emma Kurtycz
Investigating the mechanisms through which autophagy controls lipid levels in cyst stem cells., Jared Langdon
Impact of sodium benzoate and a high fat diet on kidney of mice., Anna Lipinski
"Not that type of Asian": deconstructing the model minority myth from a South Asian perspective., Shraddha Patel
Testing functional homology of the lga2 and rga2 genes of Sporisorium reilianum in Ustilago maydis, Joshua Thomas
An extensive exploration of generalist microbotryum species through host interactions., Emilee Walters
Theses/Dissertations from 2023
Impact of lyophilization on porcine hemoglobin properties., Mustafa Almosawi
An emergentist critique of the contract theory of the state of nature, with a consideration on two types of polity and their origins., Ryan A. Apperson
The philosophy of activism and its paradox., Omar Arar
Other Bodies: Deconstructing visual binaries by subverting visual representations of the Other., Amaiya L. Crawford
The lost cause and the commonwealth: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and forging civil war memory in Kentucky., Emma Donaghy
Understanding the Evolution of Enforcement Systems in Resource Dilemmas, Devin M. Flener
Histological evaluation of offspring kidneys following prenatal vaping exposure., Lucas Georges
Does using clicker questions before instruction improve students' conceptual understanding., Edward "Walker" Goshorn
Immobilization and its effects on functional recovery after spinal cord injury., William H. Gregory
The effects of prescribed fire on ant community composition in a temperate deciduous forest., Emma Jones
Diversification and convergence following the transition from saltwater to freshwater in stingrays., Autumn D. Magnuson
Azanyl carbamates: Synthesis, characterization and chemistry., Maunil Mullick
Examining the relations between obsessive compulsive disorder and quality of life in a transdiagnostic eating disorder sample., Madison Rose Ortman
Interpreting San Cecilio: Ritual and discourse in a Granadan celebration., Martha M. Popescu
The loneliest galaxies in the Universe: a Gama and galaxy zoo study on void galaxy morphology., Lori E. Porter
Impacts of bacterial evolution on host lethality in drosophila, Andrew Preston
Impacts of dietary restriction on a Drosophila model of Werner syndrome, Eileen Sember
The emerging oral pathogen, Filifactor alocis, modulates antimicrobial responses in primed human neutrophils., Ian J. Snider
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Linguistic and cultural training for immigration attorneys representing undocumented Oaxacan immigrants in the United States., Alexis Faith Ecarma
The purpose of Hell: control of communities through apocalyptic literature., Madison S Fogle
Influences of Drosophila circadian clock on sugar-mediated physiological changes, Erica E Hassoun
Eco-friendly yet unsustainable: the impact of eco-tourism on the sustainable development of Martha's Vineyard., Delaney Henson
The madwoman in the refrigerator and A Song of Ice and Fire., Alex Herm
Creolization and Romanity: the continuities and changes of Roman Egypt., Travis M. Kaelin
Aha! Examining insight in exploratory learning versus traditional instruction., Olivia Kaiser
Functional characterization of a putative alternative oxidase in Sporisorium reilianum f. sp. zeae., Emma A Lamb
The interaction of spaced retrieval practice and element interactivity., Cameron K. Mattingly
An evaluation of COVID-19 vaccination rates of the patients at the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center., Aditya Mehta
Exercise dependence, affect, and eating disorder symptoms after treatment discharge., Samantha M. Minrath
How and why do great powers weaponize bordering diasporas in foreign policy., Matthew A. Payne
Inducing cognitive reflection and its impact on contradictory beliefs., Margaret Powers
Evaluating sex-dependent changes in the gut microbiome caused by Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) exposure., Zayna Qaissi
The impact of political systems on addiction policy in industrialized democracies., Lexi Renee Raikes
Recipe for good: analyzing the authenticity of CSR commitments among the leadership of a parent company to global restaurant brands., Lauren E. Reuss
Examining body trust and body listening in sexual and gender minorities., Emma G. Roberts
Nitrogen availability in dune systems and Its effect on root fungal endophyte communities., Haley E. Sage
Greetings from Eureka!: a story quartet and critical afterword., Roman Sauls
Using fluorescent microscopy to follow mitochondrial Inheritance through tagged alternative oxidase in sporisorium reilianum., Luke Schroeder
Prescribed burning and land functions in the mixed-land use management of the Berea College Forest., Hinzee Smith
Adjusting for speaking rate when perceiving speech in background noise., Dawson C Stephens
The yellow figment of East Asian American women: a case study of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings., Lily Zhen-Ling Stewart
The effect of object contact on pre-reaching infants' causal perception., Mallory L. Thompson
Early mathematical abilities of 48-month-old children with Williams syndrome., Jenna N. Tinnell
Reconsidering scales and the binary in forensic anthropology: a critical analysis of morphoscopic data utilized in sex estimation standards., Bailey N. Watson
The Great Resignation: a content analysis of news sources' portrayals of the COVID-19 labor shortage., Mackenzie Williams
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Oriented external electric field (OEEF) tuning of unsubstituted azoheteroarene photoswitching performance., Irma Avdic
Assessing universal basic income proposals: a comprehensive analysis of established studies., Zachary Paul Baker
The influence of gender on interruptions in the U.S. Courts of Appeals., Molly Grace Baldock
Positive rhetoric, prejudiced policy: the contradiction of Islamophobia in American government after 9-11., Molly Bilz
The impact of religion on gender, sexuality, and abortion politics: a comparative study of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland., Sabrina L. Collins
A network investigation of eating disorder symptoms and risk factors before and after a prevention program in adolescent girls., Jordan E. Drake
Functionality of red blood cells after cryo-preservation., Charles Andrew Elder
Madwomen and mad women: an analysis of the use of female insanity and anger in narrative fiction, from vilification to validation., Lindsay Haralu
Software validation and data quality monitoring of the KLM detector at Belle II., Dustyn Hofer
Land lines: modes of communication in Kentucky's queer past and present., Emma R. Johansen
Nonprofit social media internships: a handbook, Allison LaRoy
The relations between maternal language input and language development for children with Williams syndrome., Katarina L. Mayer
"I love judges, and I love courts:" Chief Justice William H. Taft and reform in the federal judiciary., Alexandra M. Michalak
The idea of wilderness and United States land use policy: American Transcendentalism, preservation, and conservation, 1835-1914., Arabella A Paulovich
"At the peril of our lives": race, citizenship, and Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever epidemic., Abigail Posey
Implementing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system in Microbotryum., Stevana Reese Schauer
The effect of parent interaction on pre-reaching infants’ visual attention during an object manipulation task., Jalena N. Slaton
Colombia's judicial reform: what now?, Maya Smith
The relationship between mothers’ negative emotional symptoms and mother-infant interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic., Kolbie A Vincent
