Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Submissions from 2023
America, the Beautiful: How American Cosmetics Companies Advertised Femininity in the 1950s, Bridget Beavin
Rosalie Edge and the Modern Environmental Movement, Elizabeth Claire Coleman
Taiwanese Women In and Out of the Workforce: Perceptions of Working Mothers and Their Roles, Josie Coyle
Growth and Survival of Amphibians Exposed to Road Salt and Glyphosate-Based Herbicide, Jerica Eaton
Analysis of a Cathepsin Protease in Normal Development and Tumor Metastasis in Drosophila melanogaster, Lindsey Fannin
Defamiliarizied Gender in the Works of Hayao Miyazaki, Jolie Finley
Bluegrass Backstory: Connecting People to Local History Through Podcasting, David Hunter Hartlage
Masculinity, Femininity, & Dignity: Examining the Relationship Between Gender Expression and Respect, Ashton Lyvers
Creating Community in a Space of Strangers: Sea Shanties in Theatre, Cassandra Merena
Blues Narrative: Blues People, COVID-19, and Civil Unrest, Lamont P. Pearley
A Study Of Public Opinion: The Importance Of Mental Illness Diagnosis and Perceptions of Recidivism on Parole Eligibility, Emily Pedigo
Completing and Improving the Collection of Data for Carbon Reporting, Madeline Petty
Examining the Impact of Holistic Practices on LGBTQIA+ Wellness, Airelle Railley
Terror Management Theory and Legislation: An Analysis of How Patterns Evolve and Change, Elizabeth Roth
Simulating the Machine Translation of Low-Resource Languages by Designing a Translator Between English and an Artificially Constructed Language, Michaela Snyder
TeloPortWrapper: A New Tool for Understanding the Dynamic World of Fungal Telomere Ends, Trey Stansfield
The Impact of Track and Field to the Youth Refugee Community: A Case-Study Analyzing Sense of Belonging and Integration to a New Community, Rafael Teodoro da Silva
Building Coleus Academy, Janessa Unseld
Improving Diagnostic Outcomes for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders Within the Hispanic Community in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Bethany Waddey
Comparison of Groundwater Chemistry And Associated Biodiversity of Sulfidic Karst Habitats in Southcentral Kentucky, Kendall Wheeler
Novel Application of Graphene Oxide in Conjunction with DNA Binding dCas9 for Detecting Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Langley Williams
The Reality of Bipolar Disorder: A Dance Film to Bring Awareness to the Misconceptions of Mental Health, Julia Woolums
Submissions from 2022
#ChurchToo: The Movement Created to Expose the Toxicity of Gender Roles and Purity Culture in Modern Day United States Evangelicalism, Grace Alexieff
Inflammatory Response to Sleep Fragmentation in Skeletal, Cardiac, and Smooth Muscle Tissues in Female Mice, Patton Allen
The Isolation and Characterization of Bacteriophage Hasitha, Gillian Brown
Will the Real News Reporters Please Stand Up?: A Study of Bias in the Media, Hannah Claussen
A Pilot Study: An Evaluation of Accessibility of Resources for Parents of d/Deaf/Hoh Children in KY/TN, Amara Danturthi
Development of Scent Detection and Categorization Algorithm Using Gas Chromatography and Machine Learning, Alex Driehaus
Rurality and Its Effects on Prenatal Care in Southcentral Kentucky, Kylee Eilers
Assessing Deportations: The Factors that Influence U.S. Deportations and Their Public Perceptions, Madelynn Einhorn
Encouraging Little People’s Big Questions: An Elementary School Teacher’s Guide to Encouraging Philosophical Inquiry in Decision Making, Morgan Flanagan
The Role of Dichloro(ethylenediamine) Platinum II in Altering Cellular Iron and Copper Transport, Megan Hall
Antitype: An Exploration of Self and Poetry, Faith Harris
Kentuckians' Perception of the Environment and Use of Outdoor Public Spaces, Grace Herrmann
Modifiable Maternal Factors and Their Relationship to Postpartum Depression, Kat Howard
Say It Like You Mean It: Linguistic Components of Social Media Corporate Apologies and their Effects on Consumer Outcomes, Laurel Johnston
Understanding the Mental and Emotional Impacts of Being a Caregiver of Socially Isolated Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Chloe Kerrick
Servant Leadership and Adult Volunteers in the Boy Scouts of America, Andrew Koontz
Progress in the Bluegrass: An Analysis of Grassroots Organizing in Kentucky Post 1970, Brooklyn Lile
Understanding Public Support for Foreign Aid: A Cross-National Analysis, Erika Manning
No-Knock Warrants: Unlawfully Legitimate, Isabel Pergande
Changes in the Zooplankton Community in Barren River Lake (South Central KY) Between 2008 and 2020, Laurel Philpott
Promoting a Walk/Run Event to Expand Services for Individuals with Disabilities, McKenzie Rodgers
Comparison of Effects of Sleep Fragmentation on Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine IL-1β of Male and Female Adult Mice, Manzar Rzayeva
Does "Good" Mean White?: Understanding the Complexities of Refugee Resettlement in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Molly Shaddix
A Critical Biography of John Algeo: From Historical Linguist to Dialectologist, Lindy Sipes
Kids, Culture, and Queerness: The Progression of LGBTQ+ Representation in Children's Media, Sarah Stevens
Electing to Take on Risk: Political Uncertainty, Midterm Elections, and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns, John Thornhill
Crossmodal Perception of Object Shape: A Study on the Effect of Modal Order on Successful Shape Recognition, Ashlyn Vale
Submissions from 2021
The Financial Reality of a Career in Veterinary Medicine for Kentucky Residents, Shelby Ackermann
Antibiotic Resistant Gene Concentrations in Bacteria in Groundwater from Agricultural Waste, Koji Barnaby
Pathways to Self-Governance and Success: An Exploratory Study of Community Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky, Amanda Beavin
Wind Tunnel Data Acquisition System Development Using LabVIEW, Riley Bishop
Dung Beetle (Scarabaeinae) Diversity of the Highest Elevation in West Africa: The Nimba Mountain Range, Jacob Bowen
Effective Community Engagement Programs in Contemporary Concert Dance Companies, Emily Caldwell
Drought in the Breadbasket of America and the Influence of Oceanic Teleconnections, Grace Campbell
From the Volga to the Mississippi: African Americans and the Soviet Experiment, Daniel Candee
Examining Audience Receptivity to Theatre Across Various Technological Mediums, Chingyi "AC" Chan
Hallucinogenic and Sedative Drug Treatment and its Impact on Mental Health Nursing, Meredith Cherry
Autism and the Foster Care System in Kentucky, Caroline Clark
Enhancing WKU Sustainable Food Systems through Education and Local Agriculture Development, Chloe Cooper
Maiden, Martyr, Sinner, and Saint: Performing the Narratives of Joan of Arc, Emma Cox
The Effect of School Return During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Physical and Mental Health, Kaitlynn Craig
Informing Sustainable Urban Forestry Policy with Carbon Sequestration Analysis, Ellen Danford
Public Perceptions of Language Education in Taiwan: English in a Multilingual Context, Isabel Eliassen
Pediatric Caregiver Health Literacy: Comparing Perceptions of Pediatricians and Nurse Practitioners, Kirbey Flora
Judges, Attorneys, and Psychologists' Views of Sole-Parent Child Custody Evaluations, Chandler Flynt
Crafting Character: Exploring Elder Identity through Story, Cameron Fontes
A Review and Comparison of U.S. State Wildlife Action Plans for Stonefly (Insecta, Plecoptera) Species of Greatest Conservation Need, Kathryn Greene
The Development and Validation of the General Attitudes toward Police (GAP) Questionnaire, Rachel Greis
The Federal Prosecution of Al Capone and Its Impact on the Evidentiary Evolution of Forensic Accounting, Rachel Gumbel
Answers in the East: An Examination of China's Renewable Energy and its Application to Central Appalachia, Lillian Hamm
The Socioeconomics of Homelessness in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Ben Hanson
Acoustic Communication in the Atlantic Mudskipper, Periopthalmus barbarus, Seth Hoffman
An Analysis of a Hybrid Steel Bridge, Andrew Iglehart
Studying the Relationship Between Financial Risk Aversion and Income with the Jeopardy! Daily Double, Miles Johnson
I Hear You: The Everyday Struggle Living with Misophonia, Ashton Jones
No Day but Today: The Social and Cultural Impacts of Rent, Emily Lancaster
Synthesis and Catalytic Properties of Metal-Organic Frameworks Mimicking Carbonic Anhydrase, Longji Li
The Effect of Warm-Up Protocols on the Occurrence of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome in High School Cross Country Athletes, Makayla Mack
The Design, Development, and Implementation of a Coding System for a "Hot" Self-Regulation Task, Hannah Martin
Beyond Sustainable: An Analysis of the Visual Rhetoric Behind the Branding of Christy Dawn, Megan McCormick
Diving Into Reliable Numerical Observability and Stabilization of the One-dimensional Wave Equation, Emma Moore
Banking on Her: The Effects of Microfinance on Women’s Autonomy in Developing Economies, Zena Pare
Solving the Persistence Problem: Application of Peer Mentorship in the ROTC Community, Thomas Pelkey
Pupillary Effects During Retrieval: Influenced by Cognitive Load and Strength of Memory, Valentina Pinilla
How Connected Is Parenting Stress and Child Adaptability Through Child Prosocial Talk?, Lindsey Powell
Landscape Analysis and Content Strategy for COVID-19 State Response Websites, Kaitlin Price
Regression Analysis: Graduation Rate in Kentucky Public High Schools, Rebecca Price
The Role of Protective Factors for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Sexual Minorities, Kendra Rigney