Honors Theses are submitted to the University of Richmond in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the distinction of Honors within particular disciplines. The nature of each thesis depends upon the norms of the particular academic discipline and/or department. Most are open access; some have been embargoed or are restricted indefinitely per the request of the author. If you are an author and would like to change the availability of your work, please contact
.Theses from 2026
Looksmaxxing, but for Whom? Exploring Men’s vs. Women’s Motivation for Appearing Gender Stereotypical, Davit Arustamyan
The Bohemian Grove: Male Escapism into the Wilderness and the Feminist Anti-Nuclear Protests, 1872-1989, Lianna Augusto
Education and the Maternal Childcare Gap: Evidence from the UK COVID-19 Pandemic, Lara Bakhaya
Spillover Effects of Medicare Advantage on Fee-for-Service Post-Acute Care Spending, Nyel Bangash
Double Exceptionalism: Czechoslovak Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Identity, and Democracy in Transatlantic Perspective, Saige Beatman
Sexual Politics of the Anglo-American Relationship in 1942: A Case Study of the United States v. Travis Hammond Court-Martial, Catherine Campbell
Genomic Sequencing and Protein Structure Analysis of Bayou Virus from Field-Collected Tissue Samples, Frederick M. Campbell III
How Mindsets Shape Anxiety and Depression Symptomology: The Mediating Role of Coping, Samuel R. Chanenson
Toggling (De) Legitimization: How Presidential Candidates Framed Israel and Antisemitism on the 2024 Campaign Trail, Kate Chasin
First-Year Connections: Examining the Relationship Between Social Provisions and Eudaimonic Well-Being Among First-Year Racial-Ethnic Minority Students at a PWI, Eliana Teodora Coleman
A Phylogenetic Analysis of Avian-Associated Ixodes scapularis & Implications for Lyme Disease, Nora Correiro
Thin-Centered Communication Style: The Populist Style and Visual Media Use on Social Media, Jack DeKorte
Pay Gaps at the Top: How CEO–Executive Compensation Disparity Affect Firm Performance, Anh Que Diep
The Market Signal of Climate Risk: Examining Disaster-Linked Insurance Costs and Home Values, Anika Donohue
he Differential Effects of Food Aid & Agricultural Input Aid on Household Consumption in Malawi, Stevi Dugas
Bridging Textbook Claims and Primary Literature on Alkene Hydration Reactions, Elise Dunkelberger
Examining the Effect of Encoding Time on Face Processing in Autistic and Neurotypical Adults, Riley Dunkelberger
Ethics and Art: Fulfilling Your Aesthetic Obligations to the Fullest, Zoe Epstein
Spear, Perilous Times, and The Bright Sword: Radical Reinventions of the Arthurian Legend in 2020s Literature, Brigid Flanagan
N-Allylation of Secondary Amides with Unsymmetrical Propionates, Remi Graff
A Critical Discourse Analysis of Racial Justice in Virginia Higher Education, Abigail Green
Cultural Roots of Eating: A Comparative Analysis of Organic Discourse and Marketing Practices in China and the United States, Zubin (Jane) Guo
La mode comme arme à double tranchant : construction et déconstruction de l’Indochine coloniale, Sasha Hanson
Temperature-Dependent Optical Properties Characterization of Thermophotovoltaic Selective Emitter (4H– SiC, AlN ceramic, and AlN/Al2O3), Po-Chao Huang
Anger as a Defense of Vulnerability, Yutong Jiang
The Conscription Imperative: A Philosophical, Paternalist, and Egalitarian Case for Universal National Service, Timothy Wenhsiang Khoh
Crafting the “Greatest Classics” of Girlhood: Advice Columns, Diaries, and the Emotional Lives of American Teenage Girls, 1918-1939, Kylee Violet King
Mechanisms Driving Disparities in Income Mobility Across the Income Distribution, Joe Larkins
High-Resolution Species Delimitation of Panagrolaimus Nematodes Through Integrated Morphology and 18S/COI Sequencing, Noelle Ledoux
Development of a Python Pipeline for the Inference of Selection in Human Genomes and Applications to ADH1B*2, Aine MacDermott
Propaganda vs. Public Opinion: German-Americans, Irish-Americans, and the Committee on Public Information during World War I, Susan Mahoney
Simulating Partial Sky Cosmic Microwave Background Maps with 3D Fast Fourier Transforms, Mariona Gina Mascarell
The Geometry of Gravity, Mariona Giner Mascarell
How gender essentialist beliefs shape interest and belonging in gender dominated fields, Emma McCauley
Trump’s Populist Rhetoric on Foreign Policy in Campaign Speeches, Elizabeth Milliot
Who Steps Forward?: Agency, Communion, and Leadership Claiming, Julia Kathleen Mills
Net carbonyl ene reactions of olefins with aldehydes, Alexandra Mock
Gender-diverse State Legislative Candidates in the United States: Identity Used Strategically on Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman
Pursuer Evader Surveillance Game, Zijie Mu
Pursuer Evader Surveillance Game Control theory and motion planning, Zijie Mu
Burnt-Out Birthday Candles, Amy Ogle
Exploring phosphoregulation of MYO3A using quantitative fluorescence image analysis in COS7 cells, Vu Hao Minh Nguyen Phan
Borrowing by Committee: An Analysis of the Link Between Government Type and Sovereign Debt, René Polanco
Not Noise but Discourse: Platform Affordances and the Durability of Feminist Discourse in ACOTAR Fandom, Charlotte Price
Yes, Even the Murderers and Rapists: A Case for Prison Abolition and Visions for the Future, Andrea Punishill
Investigating the Effects of Phenylcyclohexenones (PCHs) on PTZ-Induced Seizures in Zebrafish, Ritika Relwani
Lessons in Reading: Tropes and Trope Awareness in Early and Modern Novels, Eleanor Rutledge
Dismantling Normativity: Using Crip-Ace Theory to Disrupt the Cycle of Exclu, Isabella Sabogal
Renewable Energy Use and Firm Performance Under Changing Oil Market Conditions: Evidence from U.S. Industrial firms, Lily Schweinfurth
From Shock to Routine: The Evolving Impact of Shutdown-Related Sentiment on Stock Markets, Yiran Shao
An Amperometric Sensor with Anti-fouling Properties for Indicating Xylazine Adulterant in Beverages, Charlie Sheppard
Synthesis and Oxidative Linearization of Cyclic Peptides for Therapeutic Identification, Nancy Stuart
Reengineering the Concept of Pregnancy: From Moralized Difference to Mere Difference, Charlotte Tisdale
How do transportation disruptions affect the corn futures market?, Minh Tran
MNEs vs. Local Firms’ Resilience to Global Shocks: Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis and COVID-19, Yijie Wang
Associations Between College Students' Belonging, Classroom-Based Relationships, and Mental Health Outcomes, Ella Grace Will
RockYou2024: What’s Your Password?, Yixuan Zhang
Theses from 2025
Synthetic Modification of Agrobacterium to Inhibit Plant Pathogenesis, Rosemala Agarwala
Development and Functional Characterization of Carbon Nanodot-peptide Conjugates for the Treatment of Bone Disease, Abigail Ali
Organocatalyst Frameworks for CO2 Reduction to Methanol: Selectivity Control and Mild-Condition Activation, Nehal Asif
Associations Between Community Based Learning and Openness to Diversity Among UR Undergraduate Students, Shea T. Baker
Murder, Morality, and the Media: A Comparative Analysis of Sarah Maria Cornell and Lizzie Borden, Mary Beatty
Impact of Categorical versus Dimensional Diagnoses on Mental Health Stigma, Zachary Benedetti
In the Name of National Security: The Federal Surveillance and Weaponization of Sex in Cold War America, Isabel J. Blaylock
Anna on the Go, Emma Burgess
The Ripple Effects of Belonging: How Faculty–Student Connections May Drive Mutual Success, Marissa Burton
The Concept of Character for Narrative Medicine: A Comparative Study, Susannah Daly Carter
Orientalism in Moab: Biblical Scholarship in Transjordan, 1875-1885, Maya Casillas
Beyond the Factory Walls: Black Tobacco Labor, Civil Rights, and Public Health in 20th-Century Richmond, Virginia, Craig Caudill
Assessing the zoonotic and non-pathogenic bacterial microbiome of Norway rats in Richmond, Virginia, using nanopore sequencing, Kalynn Cheeks
From Devotion to Elegy: Sibling Relationships in American Literature 1865–1965, Olivia Couch
Bringing a Ghost Story to Life: Actualizing A Production of The Woman in Black, Benjamin Cudmore
Man Versus Machine: Investigating the likelihood of improvement and perceptions based on AI generated versus human generated feedback on writing assignments, Catherine Cummins
Welfare Federalism and Immigrant Inclusion: How State Ideology, Democracy, and Public Opinion Shape Social Policy, Emily Daniel
The Material of Jewish American Life: The Myers Family of Norfolk, Virginia, 1780s-1820s, Alessandra Brooks DelDonna
Optimizing Bilayer Photonic Emitters for Enhanced Efficiency in Thermophotovoltaic Devices, Paige Delsa
The Cage Versus the Canopy: How Environment Shapes Neuromotor Mechanisms in Male and Female Rattus norvegicus, Isabel DiLandro
Reversing Residential Segregation in Richmond: Recommendations for a More Inclusive Future, Jacob Ellis
Webcam Gaze Estimation in Unconstrained Environments, Anatolii Evdokimov
The Effect of Florida’s HB1557 on the Stigmatization of Gay Students, Madeline Fellner
Past Lessons, Present Strengths: Does Prior Experience Predict Greater Well-Being and Resilience Among Community-Based Learning Students?, Madison Fields
The Implications of Antisemitism in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale, Georgia Gansereit
Cultural Roots of Eating: A Comparative Analysis of Organic Discourse and Marketing Practices in China and the United States, Zubing (Jane) Guo
Can Neutron Star Mergers Alone Reproduce r-Process Enrichment in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Halos?, Christine Gyure
The Impact of Corporate Profits on GDI Estimates: Forecasting and Data Revisions, Peterson Haas
From Prison to Progress: Evaluating the Impact of Second Chance Act Grants on Recidivism, Alexandra Hall
Shame on Us: The Democratic Costs of Public Shaming, Elijah Han
The Effect of Chalcogen-Phosphorus Substituents on Enediynes Undergoing the Bergman Cyclization, Marcos Hendler
Evaluating the Role of Institutional Size and Selectivity in Determining Social Belonging, Christian Herald
Spartan Matriarchs and Female Autonomy Through the Reforms of Agis IV, Will Hisle
‘King of Infinite Space:’ Confinement and Identity in Hamlet & Contemporary Adaptations, Anna-Laura Houston
Chrysanthèmes et camélias: le japonisme littéraire au XIXᵉ siècle et aujourd’hui, Emiko Iguchi
I Am My Mother’s Daughter: Migration, Motherhood, and Labor, Poinsettia Isaw
Genomic Analysis of the Lyme Disease Vector Across Virginia’s Spatial Expansion Front, Amy Jablonski