Honors College Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/2269

The undergraduate Honors thesis is designed to serve as the capstone work to an undergraduate degree and are one means by which students can demonstrate their readiness to join a graduate program. Through the mentorship of a faculty committee, an undergraduate student will complete a research or creative project and is designed to add to the body of knowledge in their given major or minor. Keep in mind that theses can take a variety of forms – from conducting laboratory research or building an engineering project to arranging a portfolio of original music or writing a novel.

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

The Role of Cultural Identities with Color Evasiveness and Racist Attitudes
(2024-05)
Understanding attitudes perpetuating racism and racist systems is an essential avenue of research (Loyd & Gaither, 2018). In the modern-day context, racism often takes the form of blaming disparities not on systems of inequity and oppression but on individuals themselves (Keum et al., 2018). In contrast, colorblindness or color evasiveness is the belief that racism and racist ideology do not exist or matter (Keum et al., 2018). Racism results in people actively discriminating against minoritized populations, and color evasiveness disregards the issue. Prior research has indicated that racial identity is associated with racist attitudes among non-Hispanic Whites (Pope-Davis & Ottavi, 1994). Still, these studies have primarily utilized a unidimensional conceptualization of racial identity. This gap is problematic because ethnic/racial identity (ERI) is a multidimensional construct that captures how individuals navigate their attitudes and feelings about their ethnic/racial (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014)). In addition, past research has ignored U.S. identity (USI) development, another critical component of one’s cultural identity (Meca et al., 2023). Addressing this gap, the proposed study will utilize a sample of 428 college students (74.9% female, Mage=20.58, SD=2.37) to examine the unique association between dimensions of ERI and USI with color evasiveness and racist ideology among non-Hispanic White college students utilizing two separate linear regressions were estimated to determine the associations between dimensions of ERI and USI with Racism and color evasiveness.
Disability Accommodation and Accessibility in Post-secondary Education: A Preliminary Study
(2024-05-10) Campa, Olivia
Accommodations are a critical component of accessibility for students with disabilities in post-secondary education. Although the purpose of accommodations is to ensure that students with disabilities have equal opportunity to excel within a learning environment, only a minute portion of the disabled population registers to acquire accommodations in university. Numerous barriers that students with disabilities encounter when obtaining accommodations have been identified in previous literature; however, our research intends to exhaustively examine the nature of prominent barriers at a local university and particularly amongst unregistered students. By understanding why various barriers exist and the limitations they impose on students, universities and other influential systems can attempt to alleviate these obstacles inhibiting accessibility in post-secondary education. This study explores disability as a political identity, evaluates attitudes towards disability in the U.S., and discusses proposed barriers in education from past research. It then analyses data from a survey given to students with neurodevelopmental, mental or emotional, or learning disabilities that are not registered with student disability services. Through descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis, this study identifies prominent barriers alongside student regard for accommodation effectiveness. Finally, this study provides guidance in targeting these disparities to educational institutions.
SeTe nano-alloy for the regulation of redox reaction in cancer cells
(2024-05-10) Flores, Ernesto
Nanomaterials are one of the most promising technologies of the 21st century. They are widely used in fields of science, health care, agriculture, technology, and industries. Their physical and chemical properties, such as magnetic, electrical, and optical, differentiate them from their bulk counterparts. These physical characteristics make them the focus of different scientific studies. The synthesis of nanomaterials is currently being studied due to the restrictions relevant to the translation of these materials from laboratory to fabrication. Pulse Laser Ablation in Liquids (PLAL) has been shown to be optimal. It is a versatile technique that allows the production of most nanomaterials, is low-cost and is environmentally friendly. To overcome the challenges of the oxidative effects of traditional liquid phases (water, acetone), we synthesized SeTe nanoalloys utilizing deep eutectic solvents with Ch-Cl as the hydrogen bond donor. The hydrogen bond acceptor is sugar-based to increase biocompatibility. We analyzed the size, shape, and charge of the nanomaterials to characterize the properties of SeTe. Our goal is to regulate redox activity in cancer cells by reducing the toxicity of SeTe by using Deep Eutectic Solvents. The use of this solvent as a liquid environment for pulse laser ablation was explored for the first time. Another key factor to consider ahead for the scalability of the system is the low cost of production of these deep eutectic solvents.
A Study of Measurement Using Open Quantum Systems
(2024-04-15) Patwa, Hamza
Open quantum systems are quantum systems that are exposed to the environment. As a consequence, these systems do not obey the Schrödinger equation; and this gives rise to a phenomenon known as decoherence. My Thesis Proposal will be on using the formalism of open quantum systems to shed light on some foundational questions of quantum theory, specifically, the measurement problem. I model the measuring apparatus as an external environment, characterized by a set of Lindblad operators, acting on a quantum system of interest through via the Lindblad equation. I derive the general solution for the Lindblad equation with a general two level Hamiltonian and one Hermitian Lindblad operator. I then investigate which conditions the Lindblad operator and the Hamiltonian must satisfy in order to represent a measurement. This analytical solution could be useful in describing real-life experiments described by two-level systems, and it sets the stage for a more general calculation using a non-Hermitian Lindblad operator.

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