All students in the Honors Program are required to conduct independent, scholarly research in their major field of study. During the Honors Senior Thesis Seminar, seniors in the program present their work in the form of an oral presentation to colleagues and faculty mentors, and as a written thesis that demonstrates mastery of the material.
Please see our website for more information.
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2023
Interannual Variation of Ichthyofaunal Utilization of a Man-Made Salt Marsh Creek in Mission Bay, California, Maria Angst
Algorithmic Bias: Causes and Effects on Marginalized Communities, Katrina M. Baha
Practical solutions to the invasion of lionfish in Utila, Honduras: science, education, food, and jewelry, Carolyn Corley
Vulnerability of Juveniles to False Confessions, Amanda Ghibaudo
Women in Leadership: How Far Have We Come and Where Do We Go?, Alexandra Hill
Understanding the Connection Between Gypsum Blooms and Human Health at the Salton Sea, Isabel Ichiyama
Financial Literacy in College Today: Is It Needed?, Jasper Tatsuya Lem
Type vs. Turnout: Correlations Between Types of Higher Education Institutions and Student Voter Turnout, Janea McCoy
Demystifying The Mind-Body Connection: The Neuroscience Behind How Thoughts Impact Physical Health, Sofia Pantis
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2022
Effect of Instruction Language on English-Spanish Bilinguals' Speech Perception, Alexa Andrade
Explaining Suharto's Rise and Fall: International and Domestic Variables, Julia Batanghari
The Current Place of Corporate Identity Due to Changing Demographics and Corporate Communication Structures, Jordan Exline
Collections as Currency? New Approaches to Art Museum’s Deaccessioning Dilemmas, Juliana Guerra
Microplastics in Our Oceans May Inhibit Aerosols From Cooling the Atmosphere, Michael Rafla
Fentanyl in the Global Market: Examining the New Opioid Epidemic at an International Level, Katherine Rejer
Cultivating Compassion in Catholic Teachings: An Invitation to Relationship with Immigrants and Refugees with HIV/AIDS, Anna Salvestrin
Becoming a More Empathetic Leader and Person, Rachel Shellstrom
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2021
Making the Case for Psychedelics: Comparing Alternative Treatment Options for Depression, Nicole Amavisca
Inequalities in Heterosexual Sex and How We Can Become Equals, Sophie Bierly
Exploring Urban Food Desert Polices in the United States Through the Water-Food-Energy Nexus, Tessa Bradeen
How COVID-19 has Accelerated the Shift towards a More Sustainable Fashion Industry, Samantha Frances Casey
The Happiness Study: Identifying Social and Economic that Make the U.S. Happier, Tatum Garrison
The Relation of Therapist Behaviors to Treatment Engagement and Outcomes in PCIT, Kristine Gese BA
Examining the Effects of Juvenile Diversion in San Diego, California, Nicole Kanaras
Grandparent-Grandchild Virtual Communication Study, Tanya Keval
Children Have Rights, Too: How the Thirteenth Amendment Can Protect America's Abused Youth, Francesca Lauta
Examining Perceptions of Anorexia Nervosa, Polly McGonigle
Legal Obstacles of Detainees in For-Profit Immigration Detention Facilities, Catalina Miller-Booth
Reducing Legislative Gridlock: The Case for Rank Choice Voting, Isabella Mourani
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2020
The Role of Dopamine in Decision Making Processes in Drosophila Melanogaster, Michelle C. Bowers
La Habana: A History of Society, Livelihood, Movement, and Land Use on the Iquitos-Nauta Highway, Katie Brown
Investing in the Land of O.Z.: The Promise of Qualified Opportunity Zone Investing in Ameliorating Urban Blight, Lukas John Foy
Toward Safer Skies: An Analysis of Global Governance Gaps and Civil Aviation Accidents, Richard Austin Gunderson
A Cross National Comparison of Family Friendly Work Policies: The Potential Influence of Cultural Values, Adeline Grace Hardten
The Atomic Bomb and the Birth of Manga: Collective Memory in Post-WWII Japan, Bethany Harris
Environmental Health and Policy at the Tijuana-San Diego Border, Imma Honkanen
Diverse Community of Arsenic Resistant Bacteria Display Arsenate Reducing Capabilities, Stephanie Maeda
Sleep modifications in a Drosophila melanogaster model of Fragile X syndrome, Morgan McLaughlin
Exploring the Truths and Fabrications of Sir John Mandeville, Jake Sanborn
Pre-Professional College Women’s Perceptions of the Social Implications of Company Sponsored Fertility Postponement, Jordane Schooley
To Build a Space: a Reading of Bodies, Temporality, and Urban Colonization, Delaney Tax
India’s Nuclear Energy Conundrum: An Assessment of the Country’s Energy Futures, Sneha Thomas
Film and the Culture of Memory in Argentina, Theresa Jo Thomas
The Life-Saving Drug That No One Knows About: Naloxone Education and the Health Belief Model, Sarah Tilford
Theory of Black Racial Forgiveness: The Expectation of Black Sacrifice, Kayla Weston
The Relationship Between Undergraduate Gender, Drinking Motives, Alcohol Involvement, and Neuroticism, Jaymi Wilson
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2019
Psychographic Persona Development in the Picture of Dorian Gray, Melody Day
Havelian Presidency: A Study in Theory & Practice, Chelsea Johnson
How Diet Choices and Weight Change Person Perception, Nicole Tibbits
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2018
Comparing U.S. and French Approaches to Counterterrorism in Africa, Alexa Audino
To Dust You Shall Return: A Theological Argument for the Human Compost Movement, Sydney N. Ederer
The Physiological Effects of Exercise on California Yellowtail (Seriola dorsalis) White Muscle, Julie Giannini
Location, Location, Location: Analyzing the Impact of Pitch Command on At-Bat Outcomes in Major League Baseball, Noah Hilton
Does Sita Sing the Blues? Reworking the Ramayana Narrative, Claire Jacob
Effect of Adult Chemical Cues on Molting of Fiddler Crab Megalopae in Low Salinity Seawater, Sydney Rilum
From Fallen Women to Founding Mothers: How Petty Criminals Became Pioneers on the Australian Frontier 1788-1828, Katherine Spencer
Under Strain: A Robust Russian Foreign Posture Despite Limitations, Chiara Sutton
Attack on Frost Giant: How Shingeki no Kyojin Examines the Nordic Cycle of Fate, Rachel Truong
Gaze-Driven Video Games as Vision Training: A Case Study in Cerebral Palsy, Mckenna Wade
Mafia and Globalization: The Consequences of Economic Integration Without Legal Symmetry, Benjamin White
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2017
Evaluation of the Efficiency of an ARM-based Beowulf Cluster versus Traditional Desktop Computing for High Performance Computing, Nicholas Addiego
Is Being Wicked the Same as Having Wickedness? A Dialogue on Human Nature between Wicked, Frankenstein, and Rousseau’s Second Discourse, Emily R. Bezold
37 Clauses: Instructions Ignore the Narrative Voice, Jonathan L. Hall
Drag: Spectacle,Transformance, and the Construction of Gender Utopia, Tyler J. Henry
Impact of Photo Angle on Food Perceptions and Evaluation, Austin B. Jacobs
Manipulated Manipulation: The Political Origins and Implications of Shakespeare's Henry V, Kate Morton
2D NMR structural study of a DNA duplex containing two unnatural base pairs, Weston Preising
Examining the Neuronal Dopaminergic Pathway Underlying Sleep Behavior and Related Dopamine Sleep Disorders, Mary Beth Putz
Investigation into the Mechanism of Ion Transport in Rio Negro Characiformes, Vineza D. Reduta
Untangling the Mechanics of Co-entangled Cytoskeletal Networks, Shea Ricketts
The Effect of Integration: A Study on the Impact of Diversity on Economic Indicators, Luke H. Schleier
The ABCs of ABA: Comparing Consequence Preferences for Maladaptive Behavior in Children on the Autism Spectrum, Alyssa A. Serceki
Effects of sleep-deprivation on decision-making and action selection, Shalin N. Shah
Light Dependent Endolysosomal Defects in a Photoreceptor Model of Alzheimer's Disease, Michelle S. Smith
Analyzing the Social Change Model In the Context of Women’s Rights to Education, Abigail R. Solnet
Daphnia: A Possible Way to Combat a Deadly Amphibian Pathogen, Taylor Thomas
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2016
Factors Affecting Climate Change Mitigation Policy Implementation, Kelly M. Anderson
An Ecological Critique of Capitalism, Macauley Berg
Changes in Synaptic Protein Content and Signaling in a Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome, Kelly Birch and Peter W. Vanderklish PhD
Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Barnacle Settlement within the Southern, CA Rocky Intertidal, Diana Fontaine
Millennials as Consumers: Can Businesses Survive As Is?, Ashley N. Genoese
Academic Freedom, Public Art, & Private Universities: Examining the Expression of Communication at USD, Ivy M. Guild
Phased Helical Antenna Array for CubeSat Application, Kameron LaCalli
Corporate Tax Inversions: A Brief Overview, Hannah J. Mueller
Educational Donations and Inequality in the San Diego Unified School District, Jesse O'Sullivan
Tropical Trees as Islands: Diversity Accumulation of Armored Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) on Trees as a Function of Forest Age, Hannah Shapiro
The California S.T.E.P. Act: Prosecuting Fraternities as Criminal Street Gangs, Courtney Lee Spears
Connecting the Dots: How IoT is Going to Revolutionize the Digital Marketing Landscape for Millennials, Chloe E. Spilotro
Tijuana: The Third Space, Maribel Tovar
Undergraduate Honors Theses from 2015
Exploratory Study of Parent's Perceptions of Their Preschooler's Screen Media Usage, Lara Adamiak
Rædende Iudithðe: The Heroic, Mythological and Christian Elements in the Old English Poem Judith, Judith Caywood
Shaky Foundations: The Tradeoff between Structural Safety and Financial Security, Grace Daly
Explaining the Persistence of Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt, Kristen R. Darling
The Suitability of Habitats and the Effects of Human Activities in Osupuko and Olepolos Wildlife Sanctuaries on Maasai Giraffes, Sydney P. Davis
Investigating Sleep Behaviors in Autistic Infants, Alanna R. Flynn